January 31-2014
An Israeli court Tuesday sentenced a Jewish man to 4 1/2 years in prison for seeking to spy for Iran. The man belonged to an anti-Zionist Jewish sect that has been publicly supportive of Iran.
Yitzhak Bergel was arrested about six months ago. He admitted to the charges against him – contacting a foreign agent, intent to commit treason and attempting to aid an enemy of Israel.
He is a member of Neturei Karta, a Jewish group that is opposed to the State of Israel on religious grounds. Leaders of the group have visited Iran to attend anti-Zionist gatherings there and have met publicly with President Mahmud Ahmadi-nejad, who was photographed gleefully shaking hands with them.
According to the indictment, Bergel, 46, met with Iranian officials at the Iranian embassy in Berlin in January 2011 and offered his services as a spy against Israel.
During his interrogation by the Shin Bet security service, Bergel said he was driven by hatred of Israel, of which he is a citizen, and the desire for financial rewards.
Bergel, a father of eight from the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea She’arim, became religious 20 years ago.
Associates have said he holds extremist views against Israel, and that he was rumored to have visited Iran in the past.