February 21-2014
An Israeli court has sentenced an Israeli Jew to 4 1-2 years in prison for offering to spy for Iran.
Yitzhak Bergel, 46, belongs to the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect that is vehemently opposed to the existence of the State of Israel. Its members believe a Jewish state can only be established by the Messiah.
Bergel pleaded guilty to charges of contacting a foreign agent, intent to commit treason and attempting to aid an enemy of Israel.
But, in sentencing, the court noted that “no damage had been done to the state” because Bergel was caught before he could do anything.
The indictment said that on January 16, 2011, he flew to Berlin and two days later, approached the Iranian Embassy to say that he was an Israeli and wanted to speak to them. At the time he was clothed in his religious dress, including black and white clothes and ritual undergarments.
He was brought to Iranian representatives, including a man who introduced himself as Hajji Baba, and two others, said the indictment.
According to the indictment, he told Baba that he was against the Jewish state, wanted it to be taken over by non-Jews, was ready to provide them intelligence and even to “kill a Zionist” if necessary.
He baited the Iranians, asking them why they continued to fail to stop sabotage and attacks by Israel within Iran, said the indictment.
The Iranians responded with annoyance, noted the indictment, that he should be embarrassed to insult them when he was coming to the Iranians seeking asylum. Bergel retorted that he was not seeking asylum, but was offering to assist with spying, said the indictment.
Israel’s internal security service, Shin Bet, said Bergel had claimed that his actions were “out of spite for Israel and for financial gain.”
Neturei Karta members have traveled to Iran in the past. In 2006, there was outrage in Israel when a delegation hugged then President Mahmud Ahmadi-nejad at a conference that questioned the historical truth of the Holocaust.