Former IDF soldier sentenced to 4.5 years for leaking documents to Haaretz
Anat Kamm was originally charged with espionage for collecting documents from the IDF and handing them writer Uri Blau in Israeli 'wikileaks' scandal; her final conviction was reached in a plea bargain.
By Tomer Zarchin Tags: Anat KammThe Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday sentenced former Israel Defense Forces soldier Anat Kamm to 54 months in jail and another year-and-a-half suspended sentence, after she was convicted in February of collecting, holding and passing on classified information without authorization.
The conviction was obtained under a plea bargain that reduced the charges. Originally, Kamm had been charged with espionage.
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Anat Kamm at the Tel Aviv District Court, Oct. 30, 2011. |
| Photo by: Motti Milrod |
The two years that Kamm spent under house arrest will not be configured into the sentence issued on Sunday.
Kamm stole some 2,000 documents from the office of then-GOC Central Command Yair Naveh, where she worked during her army service.
Among the documents were 700 marked classified or top secret. Kamm passed the documents to Haaretz reporter Uri Blau.
Some of the documents appeared to show that senior Israel Defense Forces officers had violated High Court of Justice rulings by approving the assassination of wanted men in the West Bank even when it would have been possible to arrest them.
In November 2008, Blau wrote an expose based on these documents.
While the report was approved by the military censor, it spurred a search for his source. Kamm was arrested in early 2010.
Passing on classified material without authorization carries a sentence of up to 15 years in jail. Holding such material is punishable by up to seven years.
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I hope that Anat Kamm's sentence deters others of her ilk.
what about the content that was leaked? shouldn't the perpetrator of the bad orders also be sentenced and not just the messenger?
Beautiful and fearless, that is my kind of woman, can she receive marriage proposals in jail?
Ridiculous! They prosecute and punish not those who plan and perform killings at will (without any trial, even in absentia) and disregard the rulings of the Supreme Court of their country, but the brave girl who had courage to inform the society of such things. Honor to her.
Let's hope that she can be traded in a prisoner exchange before completing her sentence.
WHAT A BLOODY DISGRACE !!! WHAT KIND OF A DEAL IS THIS ??? SENTENCE SHOULD BE A MINIMUM OF 10 YEARS.MY GRANDCHILDREN WERE SERVING AT THE SAME TIME AS KAM WAS AND SHE PUT OUR BOYS LIVES IN DANGER. JUSTICE .... WHAT A JOKE .
Most talkbackers on here are totally missing the point. Some are correct about Vanunu. With Pollard you can argue. However with Kamm it is quite clear that she did not do it because of conscience. IMO she did it out of either total stupidity or total naivety. tell Me how one girl could read and understand all the documents she handed over to Blau without discerning what was relevant to her conscience and what was not ? Just the number of documents transferred speaks clearly - she had no idea what she was handing over. The sentence was fair - even generous on the side of leniency. she will get off after serving 2/3 of the sentence for good behavior. Blau is another case. He lied when he said he handed over everything. Just for this he should be tried. Did he also go thru and decide what was relevant and what was not ? I doubt it.
Israeli spinmeisters can work this anyway they want, but the bottom line is that the State of Israel has given a lengthy prison sentence to a non violent, peace oriented whistleblower who exposed violent crimes being perpetrated by her bosses. This sentence will echo for a long time.
Had she been shot like Mata Hari it would have prevented some future spies from operating. Assassinating terrorists instead of arresting and jailing them to encourage future hostage exchanges might be a good idea.
Anat Kamm received a fair sentence. Not too excessive, but enough to server as a deterrent to others who might think of stealing and passing classified information.
in any other normal country,you traitorous leftist cowards would be hanging from the gallows
The woman STOLE classified military documents ( committed a crime )which had potential to do alot of damage to the IDF and cost soldiers lives. This woman though decided she had a right to take them and give them to Blau. She could have got up to 22 years but instead she got 4.5 years for a serious crime against the state and I imagine that after the appeal and parol she will have served about 2 years maximum.
And Israelis call this justice?
Passing secret documents - 4.5 years in jail Blowing up busses or pizza shops and killing civillians - go free in exchange for Gilad Shalit
What about prosecuting Uri Blau?
How could Israel prosecute Uri Blau if the military censor approved publication? The censor should be fired!
It would keep her fully busy.
If she converts to Islam, she can get out early !
One could say that Anat Kamm broke the law,or one could state that she had just cause,as she wanted to break the WAR.
doesn't depend on anything any Israeli does. War will come sooner or later because the Arabs refuse to accept the existence of a Jewish state and that state refuses to dissolve.
MIKE COHEN HAVE YOU GOT SOMEONE OF YOUR FAMILY SERVING IN THE IDF ? THIS "HERO" OF YOURS PUT THEIR LIVES IN DANGER.
Islamo-facists killers. In that case, I would completely agree with you. Anat would be executed on the spot under Sharia law. Nice, isn't it?!
I overlooked the dot between 4 & 5 & thought it was 45 years ! Gosh ! I thought that was too much, but 4.5 years !? What's this a joke ?
Uri Blau must be made prosecution because he was the principal and buyer
If it's being "on the run"..
.
I'm happy the court didn't let her off easy, we all need to remember that we need to leave our politics at the door when we put on our uniforms. It also sets a good precedent for the right wing soldiers who are passing on information about the army's plans to dimsantle outposts to the settlers. I hope they're also caught and thrown behind bars for a few yeats.
We have only Uri Blau's say-so that the data wasn't given to the enemy. Military espionage should be punished with the utmost severity in a nation threatened with extinction.
i suppose she is going to go free on the next prisoner swap in any event.
an interesting aspect of this trial is the fact she took probably the most expensive and eccentric lawyer in israel who takes the most off the wall cases around. i doubt very much that she or her family could afford him and he was probably financed by some 'altruist' group etc. she deserved to sit in jail and four and one-half years is not a short sentence even though her crime was tantamount to treason. she probably is just young, idealistic and stupid.
And how do you feel about Jonathan Pollard, caleb?
according to Wolf Blitzer's biography, Pollard gave Israel information about Arab resources. There was nothing in it to harm the United States although he was subsequently maligned about that.
There she would have received a 'Pollard"sentence. You know - ignore the plea bargain, prison for life and throw away the key. Seems that the Americans value their secrets more highly than we value ours!
perhaps we value our people more than the Americans?
Big difference, Andyboy. Pollard sold his county's secrets to a foreign government for money. It was not a question of conscience, as it was with Kamm, who gave the documents to a newspaper in her own country in order to expose illegal actions. The two cases are not comparable.
Pollard himself violated his plea agreement by giving an interview to the press. The judge took this seriously, the man was liable to spill out all the secrets he knew.
if she was right wing she would have gotten at least two to three times the sentence...shame on the courts yet again
By what logic are democracy and freedom of the press synonymous. To start with the press is not free. It is the mouthpiece of the powers that pay to publish it. Those powers are mostly anti-democratic. They are for freedoms and advantages for themselves, whether they are political parties or private businesses who advertize. The 'free' press is an organ of deceit, lies, distortion, war mongering, treachery and suppression of freedom. Examples abound all over the world and through history. This so called press includes the so called media as well as all public venues, e.g mosques, churches and temples. They all are sources of treachery by which to get you to surrender your liberty by whatever little bit to the mouthpieces of your oppressors.
Now, what will they do to Mr. Blau and the Ha'aretz newspaper for their part in this crime?
During her army service, Kamm stole over 700 secret army documents and passed them to a correspondent of Hebrew language daily Haaretz. In November 2008, Blau wrote an expose based on these documents. Holding such material is punishable by up to seven years.
with facts and common sense
Either she was absolubtely desperate for money and fame, or she was too ignorant for her own good. How dare she put millions of lives not only in Israel at risk, but around the world. Deserved longer, but she would only be a hero for the left and Israeli supporters of terror.
she could have notified the Attorney General of the state of any perceived illegalities performed by the army officers. An official, legal investigation would ensue.
She did more damage to Israel than Pollard did. She is a spy and a traitor
"Some of the documents appeared to show that senior Israel Defense Forces officers had violated High Court of Justice rulings by approving the assassination of wanted men in the West Bank even when it would have been possible to arrest them." Two points are relevant here: she did not steal the information to give it to a foreign government, and she was trying to expose officials breaking Israeli law (and probably international law as well, but that's irrelevant in this case).
Pollard's information was on sale, she acted as her conscience dictated...
may have been "pure" but in actual fact, she made the information accessible to the enemy. That was not her choice to make.
according to Wolf Blitzer, Pollard didn't want financial remuneration for his services in behalf of Israel but his Israeli "handler" insisted that this was how they did business and he must accept payment.
you are one sick dude Binyamin
Although not reflecting the seriousness of her actions, the sentence should deter other spoiled dilettantes from committing similar acts.
last one was Mordechai Vanunu.
a thief who exposed criminals who were in contempt of thier own high court which of course will now be promptly forgotten
Pollard was not a citizen of Israel when he betrayed his country, the United States. Pollard, as already noted, sold secrets for money, the basest of motives. He is in no way a patriot, much less a hero. He deserves the sentence he received. Remember that he was the party who violated the plea bargain agreement by talking to the press. I respect Kamm, who was a whistle blower.
She might even grow to like it.
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Vanunu is an amoral money grabber and was lucky that he wasn't dropped of the side of the boat by cindy et al on the way to Israel.