IDF psychiatrist sentenced to 5 years for trying to spy for Iran - Haaretz

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Fri., January 18, 2008 Shvat 11, 5768

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		IDF Captain David Shamir (Archives)

Last update - 12:40 17/01/2008

IDF psychiatrist sentenced to 5 years for trying to spy for Iran

By Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondent

Tags: Iran, IDF psychiatrist

The Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday gave an Israel Defense Forces psychiatrist a five-year suspended sentence on charges of making contacts with a foreign agent, espionage, and attempting to harm national security.

IDF Major David Shamir (Res.) was convicted last week of the charges, which carry penalties of up to a combined 25 years in prison.

The conviction came as part of a plea bargain that reduced the severity of the charges facing Shamir.

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The court ruled on Thursday that Shamir's actions reached "the highest bar of severity."

According to the original indictment, Shamir attempted to make contact with the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Hamas officials, and the Russian intelligence service, the FSB, with the intention of selling them classified information which he came upon during his military service.

The information reportedly included Medical Corps guidelines for emergency situations, the deployment and status of the Medical Corps, civilian evacuation plans in the event of a missile attack, and more.

"It will be immediately said that the details of this affair that have been presented as follows, and the defendant's statement in relation to what he has been accused of, provoked in us some difficult questions about the man's character, and his behavior in the affair in question," judges Bracha Ofir Tom, Miriam Sokolow, and David Rozen wrote in their conviction of Shamir. "This story, in its entirety, appears to us as strange, enigmatic, and disconnected from all possible realities. Our people are unable to understand what can motivate a seemingly normative person with a strong professional and social standing, one who is deprived of nothing in day-to-day life, to one day decide to offer himself to the most hostile agents to the country, for the purpose of destroying everything that was supposed to be dear to his heart? When we asked the defendant himself, he also tried to explain to us the bizarre concept that led him to act the way he did. Alas, we did not understand."

"My goal wasn't to cause damage but to truly enable [me] to save some dear people," Shamir told the court last week during his testimony. "I knew that I am liable to endanger the security of the state but that wasn't my main goal. I don't hate the State of Israel. I grew up in the State of Israel."

Shamir said his prime motivation for his actions was what he viewed as the continued breakdown of the state's social fabric. "The idea was to save my life and that of my son and the last years of my parents' lives, and to have things happen so that we can really be saved," he said. "The thinking was that I would receive money which I would use to attain asylum for me, my son, and my family, and to enable them to live as reasonably as possible, not in Iran, not in Lebanon, but rather in a European country."

"I am sorry for this and I regret it," Shamir added. "I love this country, and I don't want it to end up destroyed."

Related articles:

Court convicts IDF doctor who offered to spy for Iran, Hamas, Russia

IDF major charged over attempt to spy for Iran, Hamas, Russia

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1.	"Highest Bar Of Severity"	12:40	\|	Clickfool	17/01/08

2.	TO CLICKFOOL #1	13:34	\|	dovale	17/01/08

3.	Sentence	13:39	\|	CBR	17/01/08

4.	Why did he?	13:43	\|	Fortuna Benmayor	17/01/08

5.	POOR GUY.....I THINK THAT AN ASYLUM	14:08	\|	Robert	17/01/08

6.	David Shamir: shame or sham?	14:25	\|	Star of David	17/01/08

7.	5 year suspended sentence? Huh?	15:24	\|	bat yam	17/01/08

8.	Robert has it right	16:14	\|	CC	17/01/08

9.	It is not a suspended sentence !	16:31	\|	Eliyahu	17/01/08

10.	Shakespeare had it right	18:00	\|	Pastaneta	17/01/08

11.	Re #4, #10 Why not ask Iago why he did it?	12:54	\|	DJStahl	18/01/08

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