Young haredi man convicted of spying for Iran

Stern is a 22-year-old yeshiva student from Beit Shemesh, and belongs to the Vizhnitz hassidic dynasty.

About two months after he was indicted for carrying out acts against the Jewish State on behalf of theIslamic Republic of Iran, Elimelech Stern, 22, was convicted by the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday on the charges of contact with a foreign agent and conspiracy to threaten.

Stern is a yeshiva student fromBeit Shemesh and is a member of the Vizhnitz hassidic dynasty.

The indictment details that Stern was in contact with an Iranian agent who went by the name of “Anna” on the Telegram app. He carried out acts at Anna's instruction and received payments in the form of cryptocurrency in exchange. He also recruited two other Israeli citizens into the fold of these acts.

In one instance, Stern printed and hung up flyers exhibiting a hand covered in blood, with a caption that read, “It will go down in history that children were killed [in Gaza], let us stand on the right side of history.” For this, Stern recruited another man, who carried out this act and documented himself doing it. He then sent the photos to Stern, who passed them on to Anna, for which he then received payment.

In another instance, the man that Stern recruited picked up a cell phone from the area of Atlit in the North, at Anna's instruction. Another man Stern recruited handed over cash in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

In yet another instance, Anna instructed Stern to send a knife and a bouquet of flowers to the home of Ronen Shaul, the Israeli Ambassador to theInternational Atomic Energy Agency. This Stern did not do, for fear of imprisonment.

Led by his own free will

During the investigation, Stern claimed that he never suspected that Anna was an Iranian agent, and said that his rights were violated during interrogations, and had asked for his testimony to be thrown out. The prosecution countered that he was well aware of his rights, and provided his testimony willingly and led by his own free will.

It added that all of the foundations needed to establish the crime of contact with a foreign agent had been established in this case, and that Stern himself said he suspected that the figure he was in contact with was, indeed, a foreign agent; that he was aware of the danger. The prosecution, therefore, asked that the court give weight to his initial confessions over his later testimony.

The conviction reads, “The evidence provided shows that the defendant suspected the integrity of Anna's identity from the very beginning. This suspicion of his only grew alongside the severity of the acts, which increasingly took on a character of nationalism and security. She even revealed as much to him, regarding her identity as a foreign agent, one who is interested in recruiting him more intensely and to provide him with combat training.”

Prosecution attorney Yishai Zigman said, “Stern received assignments, carried them out, recruited other people to these acts, and received payments for them. He did all this while knowing full well that behind ‘Anna’ stood a hostile entity set on destabilizing Israel's security.”

“This conviction sends a clear message: Anyone who has any contact with foreign and hostile agents will bear the consequences. We will continue to determinately protect Israel's security,” he added.