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IDF soldier smuggled illegal Palestinians into Israel for cash

Terrorist freed in Gilad Shalit deal contacted female IDF soldier in order to be transported into pre-1967 Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

A 19-year-old female IDF soldier and her boyfriend are facing serious criminal charges for repeatedly smuggling Palestinians into pre-1967 Israel.

According to an indictment against the pair filed by the Petach Tivkah District Prosecutor’s office, Lior Kendel and her boyfriend, 21-year-old Ilan Hantken, illegally transported Palestinians into Israeli territory in exchange for cash payments, on at least 30 separate occasions.

They earned between 200 and 400 shekels ($53 to $106) for each Palestinian they smuggled, prosecutors said.

Kendel and Hantken would pick up Palestinians from a gas station near a Jewish community in Judea and Samaria, then drive them through a nearby checkpoint into Israeli territory.

If stopped, Hantken, who rode in the passenger’s seat, would use his body to block the view of the Palestinian sitting in the back seat.

Oftentimes, Kendel wore her IDF uniform during these illegal smuggling trips, prosecutors alleged.

While the identities of most of those they smuggled are unknown, the authorities noted that one man who contacted her and asked to be transported into Israel had a troubling past.

Prosecutors said that the phone number of a convicted terrorist, who was released from an Israeli prison as part of the 2010 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange, was discovered in Kendel’s phone.

The police asked the court to keep the couple in custody until the end of their trial, arguing that they pose a risk to society.

“The accused, who is a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, and her co-defendant, risked the security of the state during wartime,” the police wrote to the court. They noted that the couple had engaged in the illegal smuggling just weeks after the October 7th terror attacks, when there was a blanket ban on Palestinian Authority residents from entering Israel.

The couple endangered citizens of Israel “for greed,” the police continued.

The Palestinians they illegally smuggled “could have easily committed terror attacks in Israel, claiming many lives.”