Arab-Israeli man charged for aiding Hezbollah

The Haifa District Attorney’s Office submitted an indictment against Shfaram resident Zaher bin Umar Yusfin on Sunday, alleging that he provided information to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah. The prosecution presented the charges in the Haifa District Court.

Yusfin, 46, is accused of contacting a foreign agent, cooperating with an illegal organization, and passing information that might aid the enemy.

Sitting in court, cuffed hands over his face, Yusfin told the assembled reporters, “I didn’t do anything.”

According to the indictment, Yusfin and his brother Maher began making pilgrimages to the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia in 2000. In subsequent years, the two men continued to travel to Mecca, sometimes organizing group trips from Shfaram, a mostly Muslim city near Haifa.

According to the indictment, during his 2007 trip, Yusfin was approached by a man who introduced himself as Khaled Mashaal Abu Ismail. He said he lived in Denmark and worked for Hezbollah, and invited Yusfin to dinner the next night. Abu Ismail brought another Hezbollah operative, Khaled al-Nabusi, to the meeting.

Discussion turned to the plight of Israeli Arabs. At one point in the conversation, Nabusi told Yusfin that he recruited young Israeli-Arabs to work for Hezbollah.

They agreed to meet a second time. Nabusi told Yusfin that he was a Palestinian from Nablus who helped Hezbollah acquire money and arms. He asked Yusfin to help Hezbollah in its operations against Israel in return for money. Yusfin agreed to the proposal. Nabusi finished the meeting by giving Yusfin two Korans, one for him and one for his brother.

The district attorney alleges that Yusfin also gave Abu Ismail his phone number, and spoke with him repeatedly while in Mecca. The two men discussed the 2006 Second Lebanon War, including the locations of Katyusha rocket strikes in northern Israel.

The state charged that Yusfin maintained regular contact with Abu Ismail after returning to Israel. Over the next few years, Yusfin provided Abu Ismail with the names of other Israeli citizens in Mecca with whom he could meet.

In 2012, according to the indictment, Yusfin arranged a three-hour meeting in Mecca between the Hezbollah recruiter and other Shfaram residents. Yusfin also passed on information about Israeli bases near Acre, and Abu Ismail asked him to provide photographs.

Yusfin was arrested on April 30, after an investigation by the Shin Bet and Israeli police.

Yusfin’s attorney, Shimon Kokus, argued that “within the indictment itself there is no crime.” His client simply met in Mecca with other trip organizers from around the world, Kokus said, and was entirely unaware that he was speaking with a Hezbollah operative.

In court on Sunday, Judge Ron Shapira extended Yusfin’s remand indefinitely.