Israeli Hasidic man sentenced to three years in jail for spying for Iran

Judge said she balanced mitigating factors with the need for deterrence.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The Jerusalem District Court on Thursday sentenced an ultra-Orthodox Israeli man to three years in prison and fined him NIS 10,000 for spying for Iran during the Israel-Hamas war.

Elimelech Stern, 22, a Vizhnitz Hasid from Beit Shemesh, was convicted of contacting a foreign agent and conspiracy to make threats.

Prosecutors had sought a seven-year sentence, but Judge Hanna Miriam Lomp imposed a lighter penalty, citing several mitigating factors.

Among them were Stern’s age, his “positive” standing in his community, and the court’s finding that he did not know the tasks he was carrying out were on behalf of Iran, Lomp said.

“He turned a blind eye” to his handler’s identity, the judge said, but Stern “did not travel abroad or meet people face to face,” and his actions were not “at a high level.”

She also cited his “personal circumstances,” saying Stern was a “normative person who had been caught in a personal and financial crisis.”

Lomp expressed sympathy for his descent from being a full-time Torah student to what she called the “deep pit” in which he now found himself.

At the same time, Lomp emphasized the gravity of the offenses, noting they were committed during wartime and were part of what she described as a “very widespread phenomenon.”

More than 30 Israelis have been arrested in the past two years for acting on behalf of the Islamic Republic.

Like many of them, Stern had fallen into debt and searched online for ways to make money when he was contacted through Telegram by an Iranian agent.

“Anna,” who posed as a Canadian activist against traffic accidents, gradually asked him to escalate his actions from hanging posters with nationalist messages and hiding money in dozens of locations, for which he also recruited two others, paying them with Bitcoin he received.

After his arrest, Stern told interrogators he had refused to carry out her more violent requests, such as damaging cars, setting a forest fire, and even shooting someone.

However, fearing the personal consequences, he did not go to the authorities or cut off contact with “Anna,” despite understanding by this time that she was not who she said she was.

The prosecution argued that Stern’s actions constituted “hostile activity that creates a real danger in … the public sphere and the daily lives of innocent citizens.”

In addition, “the numerous deterrence considerations are of utmost importance, given the significance of protecting state security [and] the enormous potential damage inherent in these offenses,” the State Attorney’s Office said, noting that it is considering an appeal to the Supreme Court.