Charges were read in a Haifa district court today against the 17 remaining suspects in the Syrian spy ring case, four of them Jews. All pleaded not guilty and will go on trial next month.
Two of the Jews, Yehezkel Cohen. 30, and David Kupfer (originally identified as Cooper), 32, were charged with direct connection with the Syrian-directed Arab-Jewish spy ring headed by a Haifa book seller, Daoud Osman Turki. The two other Jews, Mali Lerman and Rami Livneh both 27, were accused of contacts with an El Fatah agent. Livneh is the son of the Rakah Communist MK Avraham Levenbrun.
The court rejected a request by defense counsel that Lerman and Livneh be tried separately on grounds that their case would be prejudiced if they appeared before the bench with the defendants charged with direct membership in the ring.
According to the charges. Lerman and Livneh were in contact with Ahmed Halidi, an El Fatah agent who entered Israel through the summer visits program. Halidi allegedly asked them to provide information on strategic installations which were targets for sabotage and proposed smuggling arms and ammunition into Israel.
The six original suspects in the spy case, including Turki and the principal Jewish defendants, Ehud Adiv and Dan Vered. were tried last week and are awaiting the court’s verdict. Nine other suspects, all Arabs, were charged last week. Their trial will begin next week.
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