JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli-Arab man was indicted for helping Hezbollah in a plot to assassinate the Israeli army’s chief of staff.
Rawi Fuad Sultani, 23, of Tira was indicted Monday in Petach Tikvah District Court. He was arrested Aug. 10 by the Shin Bet and Israel Police.
Sultani, the son of a well-known attorney in Tira, was charged with several security offenses, including conveying information to an enemy agent and conspiracy to commit a crime. He reportedly passed information to Hezbollah on Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and about access to the Kfar Saba gym where they both worked out.
A Lebanese Hezbollah activist reportedly had contacted Sultani in August 2008 at a multinational Arab summer camp in Morocco, where the activist was lecturing the Israeli-Arab participants on Hezbollah’s "struggle." Other camp participants questioned by police also admitted to having contact with the activist.
Sultani told the contact that he had information on Ashkenazi, and the two continued to stay in touch on Facebook and the telephone after the summer, according to reports. In December, Sultani met another Hezbollah member during a meeting set up in Poland and allegedly passed on the information there.
Hezbollah has stepped up its efforts to recruit Israeli Arabs to assist in terror missions, especially against senior Israeli military officials, to avenge the murder of its military leader Imad Mughniyeh.
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