Beduin man indicted for spying for Hamas
01/29/2013 00:13
Kaisi Hamamada allegedly gave information to Hamas regarding the impact of its attacks on Israel during Pillar of Defense.
Blood stains the wall at Kiryat Malachi rocket Photo: Hadas Parush
The Southern District Attorney on Monday filed an indictment in the Beersheba
District Court against Kaisi Hamamada, a Beduin resident of Segev Shalom, for
giving information to Hamas regarding the impact of its attacks on Israel during
Operation Pillar of Defense.
Hamamada entered Gaza illegally despite the
fact that three requests he had submitted through official channels to enter
Gaza prior to December 30, 2012 had been refused, said the indictment. It added
that Hamamada’s purpose was to enter Gaza via Egypt since Israel had refused him
direct entry.
On December 30, 2012, he went from Israel to Egypt via the
Taba crossing.
Next, he took a taxi from the Taba crossing to the Rafah
crossing to try to enter Gaza. He was refused entry to Gaza via the Rafah
crossing by Egyptian border police.
The indictment alleged that next,
Hamamada went to a house near the Rafah crossing that led to one of the series
of illegal underground tunnels for entering Gaza.
There, he allegedly
paid NIS 400 to Abu Faiz, to help him enter Gaza through the tunnel. Once in
Gaza, Hamamada met up with his uncle, Abu Hasham, who took him to meet with
Hamas agents. They interrogated him regarding the impact of Hamas attacks on
Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense.
Hamamada confirmed to Hamas
that they had successfully struck targets in Beersheba, Netivot, Ofakim and
Sderot, the indictment alleged.
The indictment said that Hamamada also
told the Hamas agents that Israel does not forcibly draft its Beduin population
into the IDF.
The indictment charges Hamamada with giving information to
an enemy and illegally crossing into Gaza. It did not charge Hamamada with
spying on behalf of the enemy, a more serious charge, as noted by a Justice
Ministry spokesman.
The Justice Ministry spokesman refused to expand on
the indictment beyond that, but the wording of the indictment suggests he may
not have planned in advance to meet with Hamas, but rather had been planning to
visit family and was coerced by Hamas into providing information.
The
state requested Hamamada be held in custody until the end of the proceedings.
The court ordered him to be held in custody pending a hearing on the issue on
February 3.
On February 13, the indictment against Hamamada will be
presented in court and he will have the opportunity to respond.