IDF lieutenant colonel jailed for 15 years for spying for Hezbollah and drug dealing

A military court in Tel Aviv sentenced Lieutenant Colonel Omar al-Hayeb to 15 years in prison yesterday, after he was found guilty both of spying for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and of drug trafficking.

The former tracker for the Israel Defense Forces' Northern Command continued to assert his innocence after the verdict was handed down, charging that he had been framed and was a victim of persecution because he is an Arab.

"I didn't confess, I won't confess," al-Hayeb told reporters. "I didn't do anything. The only reason they are coming after me is because I am an Arab. I have been framed. I did not betray the state, but the state betrayed me. I am innocent and I will prove it."

One of his attorneys, Amnon Zichroni, said that his client is likely to appeal the sentence. "The sentence is too harsh," Zichroni said. "I doubt very much that his personal circumstances were taken into account."

The head of the prosecuting team, Lieutenant Colonel Einat Ron, said that "the trial was about the individual and not al-Hayeb's community or ethnic group. Furthermore, his contribution to the state is known and undoubted."

Ron also rejected al-Hayeb's claim that he was discriminated against in contrast to Elhanan Tennenbaum, a reserve officer kidnapped by Hezbollah under questionable circumstances and later released in a prisoner exchange with the group.

"Elhanan Tennenbaum was not sentenced in a military court, and therefore there is no room for any sort of comparison," she said.

Al-Hayeb, a resident of the Bedouin village of Beit Zarzir, was arrested in 2002 as a result of a broader investigation into drug smuggling. The six-month investigation also led to the arrest of 18 other IDF soldiers, some of them members of the career army.

Al-Hayeb was convicted of contacts with Lebanese drug dealers, smuggling drugs into Israel, spying, and contacts with enemy agents with intent to pass on classified information. His initial meeting with Hezbollah representatives took place at a Lebanese friend's request.

The tracker was on his way to a meeting on the Lebanese border when he was arrested with classified documents in his possession, including military maps and a list of IDF communications frequencies. Al-Hayeb allegedly planned to hand these over to Hezbollah in exchange for money or drugs that he could then sell.

As the highest-ranking Bedouin officer in the IDF, al-Hayeb was frequently cited as an example of the possibilities for advancement for Israeli Arabs serving in the military. He was seriously wounded by a Hezbollah roadside bomb while serving in Lebanon in 1996, and surgeons had to remove one of his eyes. The injuries left him partially paralyzed and with shards of metal still lodged in his head.

	Lieutenant Colonel Omar al-Hayeb, center, leaving a Tel Aviv military court yesterday after receiving a 15-year prison sentence for spying and drug dealing. (Motti Kimche)