Lebanese man indicted for contacting Israeli army personnel — report
Local media says defendant accused of offering information to IDF’s Arabic spokesman, another soldier, though his overtures were ignored
A Lebanese man was indicted Tuesday for allegedly attempting to contact the Israeli military for the purpose of working with Israel and providing it with beneficial information, the National News Agency, a state-run Lebanese outlet reported.
The indictment authored by Riyad Abu Ghaidah, Lebanon’s chief military investigative judge, said Mustafa D. messaged “the Israeli enemy’s army spokesman Avichai Adraee” by way of Facebook, the NNA report stated. It did not mention the defendant’s full name. The indictment also said Mustafa told Adraee that he likes his ideas and expressed to the spokesman that he wants peace with Israel, the report stated.
The indictment noted that Adraee did not respond to Mustafa’s message.
Adraee is the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman. He has a Facebook page which garners comments from Arabs around the Middle East on a daily basis.
Adraee declined to comment on the matter.
The indictment also noted that Mustafa wrote to another Israeli soldier by way of Facebook Messenger about his desire to make Israeli friends and communicate with them about “logistical matters,” and told the soldier he had information that could help Israel. The soldier was also uncooperative.
According to the charges Mustafa told interrogators he had contacted Israeli military personnel due to his difficult financial state and his failure to find a job.
Prosecutors are seeking a punishment of hard labor for Mustafa. It was not clear when his trial will begin.
