Former IDF soldier sentenced to
prison term after two years under house arrest; she was convicted of illegal
possession of classified IDF materials and their subsequent handover to
a reporter
Former IDF soldier Anat Kam, who was convicted
of illegally possessing classified IDF materials and passing them on to
a reporter without authorization, was sentenced on Sunday morning to 4.5
years in prison and 18 months of probation.Testimony Exposed.In her court
testimony, released for publication at Ynet's request, Kam said she had
stolen 2,000 classified documents because of 'stupid idea' that came to
her head to take documents from general's office, contradicting her Shin
Bet testimony that she did it because of ideological reasons According
to Tel Aviv District Court judges, "If the IDF cannot fully trust its soldiers,
it will not be able to function as an army."The court continued in its
criticism of Kam, saying that "The transfer of the documents while violating
basic duties constitutes a violation of the most severe criminal norms.
An IDF soldier is expected to carry out his duty out of a sense of loyalty
to the country. Kam disgracefully exploited this trust."The judges said
that her two-year house arrest will not be subtracted from her sentence.The
State Prosecutor's Office refused to say whether it plans to appeal the
sentence. "It's not serious to talk about an appeal at this time," said
Attorney Hadas Forer-Gafni. "You heard today in court how seriously we
view this case, and the court has also pointed out its severity. This verdict
should be taught at every school and during every basic training so that
soldiers know what punishment awaits them if they pass on classified information,"
the attorney said.Regarding the prospects of an appeal, Forer-Gafni said,
"We will weigh our steps in the next 45 days. Any other response would
not be serious enough. Contrary to Anat Kam, I am consistent."The attorney
was alluding to Kam's revised testimonies; during her Shin Bet interrogation,
she said that her actions were ideologically motivated. However, in in
court she claimed she had acted out of "stupidity".In February, the Tel
Aviv District Court convicted Kam of two charges: passing on classified
information, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years, and possessing
classified information, which can result in a 7-year sentence. Kam was
initially charged with harming state security, but the charge was dropped
as part of her plea bargain. Despite the plea bargain agreement, Kam's
attorneys Eitan Lehman and Avigdor Feldman were unable to reach an agreement
on her sentence. In January of 2010 Kam was indicted for handing Haaretz
reporter Uri Blau some or all of more than 2,000 classified army documents
she had stolen while serving in the office of former Central Command chief
Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh. The documents stolen by Kam contained plans of military
operations, summaries of discussions within the IDF, deployment and order
of battle (ORBAT) of IDF forces, summaries of internal IDF inquiries, IDF
situation estimates, IDF targets and more.News of the affair broke out
in April 2010, when Kam was working as a reporter for the Walla website.
In November 2008 Blau published a report based on documents he received
from Kam. The report argued that IDF forces in the West Bank assassinated
Palestinian terrorists, allegedly (ynet) |
