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Israeli Psychiatrist and Reserve Major Indicted for Attempted Espionage
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
[Sounds like one weird dude. Not exactly Mordechai Vanunu, but sort of
a Walter Mitty would-be rebel, this guy offered not-so-hot stuff to Iran
(like info on emergency medical programs and evacuatio). When he was
ignored, he moved on to Hamas and Russian intelligence, sending e-mail
and faxes from his own home. He's a civil servant and part of his
duties are treating drug addicts. And, oh, he had some grass in his
possession. - NY Transfer]
AP via The Independent - Nov 24, 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article3191604.ece
Israeli officer on [attempted] spying charges
By Matti Friedman
Associated Press Writer
An Israeli military reserve major was indicted on espionage charges
yesterday for offering secret information to Iran and the militant
Palestinian group Hamas, according to court do***ents.
David Shamir, a psychiatrist and officer in a reserve unit of the
army's medical corps, sent e-mails and faxes to Iranian and Hamas
officials saying he could provide them with classified information,
according to police and the court indictment released yesterday.
Shamir told interrogators after he was caught that he was motivated by
"greed."
In April, the 45-year-old resident of a Tel Aviv suburb e-mailed the
foreign ministry of Iran, Israel's most bitter enemy, according to the
indictment. He introduced himself as a well-connected Israeli officer
and said he could offer details on the army's emergency medical
programs, the location of medical command centers and evacuation plans
for civilians during missile attacks, the court do***ent said.
Shamir later sent several faxes from his home to the Iranian consulates
in London and Istanbul, again offering his services.
The indictment indicated that the Iranians did not accept Shamir's
offer.
Shamir then turned to Hamas, sending an e-mail in early November to the
Gaza Strip's Al-Azhar University, a stronghold of the Iranian-backed
group that took over the coastal territory in June, saying that he
wanted to "join the struggle."
Israeli law forbids contact with the Islamic organization, considered a
terrorist group by Israel, the United States and European Union.
Shamir also approached the Russian intelligence agency FSB " the
Federal Security Service " and expressed an interest in joining its
ranks, according to the indictment.
The indictment did not say whether Hamas or the FSB replied to Shamir.
The charges against the suspect include only attempted espionage,
indicating that no classified information actually changed hands.
Asked by his interrogators why he wanted to help Israel's enemies,
Shamir responded that it was "a kind of greed," the police statement
said.
Shamir, who ran a drug rehabilitation clinic, was also found to be in
possession of marijuana, police said.
"This fact surprised the investigators, in light of the fact that he is
a civil servant in a government institution who as part of his job is
supposed to treat suspects sent by the court for drug rehabilitation
treatment," the statement said.
*
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