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Jerusalem man charged with spying for Hezbollah

Prosecutors allege that the man contacted Hezbollah and offered to work for them, carrying out a number of operations in Israel.

By World Israel News staff

A Jerusalem resident in his 30s was charged Friday with aiding Hezbollah by sending the terror group information over the course of a decade.

Prosecutors filed an indictment against Ahmad Zahra in Jerusalem’s District Court, accusing him of contact with a foreign agent, and providing information that harms state security to an enemy, Israeli media has reported.

According to the filing, Zahra, 32, reached out to Hezbollah nine years ago, via a man in Lebanon, and told them he wanted to work for the terror group as an informant from within Israel. Prosecutors alleged that he traveled to Ramallah to make contact with his handlers

He is alleged to have then carried out various tasks, among them, photographing satellite dishes he believed were part of a strategic site, and reporting on unrest within the Palestinian population of the city.

His activities are said to have ceased for some years, but to have resumed within the last year when, while on his honeymoon in Turkey, Zahra was handed encryption software by the group to allow him to resume contact with his handlers, which he did upon his return to Israel.

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He was then arrested before he could undertake new missions.

The investigation into Zahra’s activities was carried out by Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security forces, and Israel Police’s International Crime Investigations Unit.

Zahra’s arrest follows the conviction in December of an Arab Israeli woman who was found to have been photographing various sites, including Iron Dome batteries and military bases, on behalf of Hezbollah. She was sentenced to two and a half years in jail.

It also comes as Israel Police in Jerusalem wrapped up an investigation into Hassan Yousef, a co-founder of Hamas who serves as one of its leaders in the Judea and Samaria region, who is accused of inciting terrorism and supporting a terrorist organization.