The Haifa District Court on Tuesday convicted Milad Hatib of acting as a Hezbollah spy and sentenced him to seven years in prison in a plea bargain deal.
The state filed an indictment against Milad on October 4 for various espionage offenses.
Milad, a 26-year-old resident of Majd el-Kurum, was captured in early September.
Since late 2009 or early 2010, he had collected information for Hezbollah regarding the location and security details of army bases, places where weapons were kept, weapons manufacturing areas and other strategic information.
Milad was about to provide information about President Shimon Peres’ security detail, vehicle and other security information based on observing a visit from Peres to Milad’s village in August, but he was caught before he could hand over the information.
His next meeting with his Hezbollah handler was set for May 2013.
Trying to get an even lighter sentence, the defense argued that law enforcement had been arbitrary or racist by only arresting Milad and not arresting his friend or his father.
The court rejected these contentions finding that strong evidence was presented against Milad and neither Milad nor the state had any such evidence to present against his friend or his father.
The court noted that character witnesses in Milad's family testified about how loyal the family was to the State of Israel and how uncharacteristic Milad's actions had been for the family and for himself, where he had a totally clean record until now.
Milad's uncle told the court that "we, as a family, took responsibility for what happened upon ourselves at some point. We were struck with shock, beating our chests, we feel we must have missed something with this incident…a man who harmed state security."
Despite these arguments, the court found that Milad's actions, even with the most serious charges dropped in the plea bargain deal, were serious enough that they warranted a strong message of deterrence by a serious prison sentence.
Hatib was “activated” by a Lebanese Hezbollah agent who has been living in Denmark for years named Burhan Hatib, 47, the indictment stated.
The indictment alleged that Milad Hatib started visiting Burhan in Denmark, other European states and Turkey between 2007-2009.
During this period, Burhan questioned Milad about his views on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, said the indictment, eventually moving on to asking him about where Hezbollah missiles hit in northern Israel during the 2006 Lebanon War and how Israel’s home front reacted to the missile attacks.
Burhan also asked Milad about Israeli Arabs involved in Zionist political parties, the indictment said.
The indictment said that throughout his meetings with Burhan, Milad always traveled with Amar Ja’aleeya of Sakhnin.
Each time Milad traveled abroad to meet with Burhan, Burhan covered the costs of his travel and lodging, the indictment alleged.
When Milad eventually agreed to work for Burhan in late 2009 or early 2010, the indictment alleged that Burhan paid Milad $500 for agreeing to join Hezbollah’s spying operations in Israel.
The indictment said that Burhan told Milad that his reconnaissance activities were the beginning of establishing a full terror cell in Israel to aid Hezbollah in operations against Israel.
All of the information that Milad gathered for Burhan was provided during the various in-person visits to avoid leaving a trail, according to the indictment.
Although Milad and Burhan spoke by telephone to coordinate visits and other issues, they had no electronic communications and left no electronic record, the indictment said.
According to the indictment, among information that Milad revealed to Burhan in a Turkey visit in July was information relating to weapons-maker Rafael and MK Ahmad Dabah (Kadima).
Burhan also told Milad code words by which he could recognize and make contact with a replacement for Burhan, should Burhan die or be killed, said the indictment.
In its entirety, the indictment had included charges for contacts with a foreign spy, conspiracy to aid the enemy during war, aiding an enemy during war, spying and working for an illegal terrorist organization.