An ultra-orthodox Jew from the religious suburb of Beit Shemesh was convicted at the Jerusalem District Court of carrying out missions for Iranian officials during the 12-day war in June.
Among the tasks Elimelech Stern was given was to place a sheep's head in a box of flowers in front of the home of Israel’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ronen Shaul, in June amid the war with Iran.
The court heard that the 22-year-old was in contact via the Telegram app with a handler named Anna Elena, who paid him in cryptocurrency.
"The defendant went to stores and asked to buy a sheep's head, but it was not available. He informed 'Anna' that he could not find an animal's head, and 'Anna' told him to buy a whole sheep," the indictment said. In the end, Stern pulled out of the task fearing the legal repercussions.
The court ruled that Stern was aware that he was talking to a foreign agent.
For other tasks such as hanging adverts given to him, which included flyers with hands covered in blood, with a caption that read, “It will go down in history that children were killed [in Gaza], let us stand on the right side of history”, the young man recruited two additional Israeli citizens whom he paid.
The investigation found that he agreed to carry out most of the tasks, with the exception of murder and burning a forest.
The indictment said that Stern was also asked to break a car window, or set fire to a car during a demonstration -- and to send a video of it. The handler promised him $500 for each window he broke, and $3,000 for each vehicle he set on fire.
"The defendant asked 'Anna' whether to go to the demonstrations on the right or left side of the political map, and 'Anna' replied that it did not matter. She also suggested that he break the glass of a store window during a demonstration in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem," the indictment said.
The case is among the first to reach court after a wave of espionage cases surfaced in Israel since the Gaza war, in which dozens of Israelis were accused of taking money to spy for Iran.
In some cases, they involved plotting to murder top political, security and military officials.
Stern's lawyer requested a probationary service memorandum at the hearing on Sunday to see if it was possible to give him only community service.
Israeli courts have previously convicted citizens of contacts with Iranian intelligence. In 2019, former cabinet minister Gonen Segev was sentenced to 11 years in prison after admitting to spying for Iran.
More recently, in April, 72-year-old Moti Maman received a 10-year sentence after acknowledging contact with an Iranian agent.
