The Jerusalem District Court on Sunday 2 Rosh Chodesh Tammuz 5773, convicted Effie Chaiken, Akiva Cohen and Meir Ettinger of gathering military information to prevent the destruction of outposts. The defendants requested expediting the sentencing to permit completing their terms before the Tishrei Yomim Tovim. The sentencing is scheduled in the coming weeks. It appears the first two defendants will receive three months while Ettinger will be sentenced to six months imprisonment. The court is considering time served, which for Ettinger amounts to a half year, 31 days for Chaiken and for Cohen, 18 days.

Defendants Elad Meir and David Tzvi Eliyahu will be appearing before the court next week in the same case. They are not expected to receive jail sentences.

They were found guilty of their actions pertaining to preventing the destruction of the Mitzpei Yitzhar and Gilad outposts by obtaining and disseminating information regarding IDF activities pertaining to the outpost’s destruction; hence the case was dubbed “the spies”.

The case has been ongoing for about a year with heavy involvement by the ISA’s (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet) Jewish Affairs Unit.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)