Two espionage cases of Jews working for foreign powers — one with Lebanon and the other with an unspecified foreign state — were made public here today.
The first case involved Gabrieli Gashmai, 37, a Tel Aviv contractor who, last April, crossed the Lebanese frontier with the intention of migrating from there to a West European state. He was held for four months by Lebanese intelligence agents whom he supplied with information on Israel’s army, general security matters and his own reserve service. Through the intervention of the Israel-Lebanese Mixed Armistice Commission, he was returned to Israel and picked up by Israeli security authorities. Now being held for court action, Gashmai originally had accumulated heavy debts.
The second case involves an unnamed engineer who contacted the embassy of the country of his origin with the view of returning there. He allegedly supplied the embassy with important information liable to damage Israel’s security. He had been sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment because the court took into consideration his unhappy childhood and personal problems. However, an appeal by the prosecution resulted in his sentence being extended to five years.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
