The Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday sentenced Anat Kamm, the journalist convicted of stealing more than 2,000 highly classified documents during her army service, to 54 months in prison, with an additional year and a half suspended sentence. Kamm was arrested in December 2009 by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) on suspicion of stealing and leaking a slew of documents during her position as clerk to then GOC Central Command Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh. Among the documents she stole were 700 which were designated as classified or top secret. She was immediately placed under house arrest and a gag order was imposed on the entire affair. Kamm passed on the documents to Ha'aretz reporter Uri Blau, who then used them to write a 2008 investigative report, approved by the Military Censor, regarding the IDF's apparent disregard for a 2006 High Court order about targeted killings of Palestinians. The report prompted the ire of then Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi, who ordered an immediate investigation into the source. In February, a plea agreement was reached between Kamms attorneys and the state in which she agreed to confess to the possession and transfer of classified documents, but avoided being charged with the most severe offense, intent to harm state security." The Tel Aviv District Court accepted the deal, convicting Kamm of the charges against her. Blau was abroad when he heard of the government's intention to prosecute him for publishing sensitive information. He opted to stay in London, reaching an agreement with the Shin Bet that ensured he would not be arrested upon his return. As part of the deal, the Shin Bet destroyed Blau's computer, where the confidential documents were stored, along with 50 other sensitive reports. Blau returned to Israel in 2010. Israeli media reported in March of this year that the Justice Ministry intends to prosecute Blau for holding confidential documents he was not authorized to use. Kamm's offense was punishable by up to 15 years, and the prosecution requested that Kamm be sentenced to nine years. The defense, meanwhile, pointed out that Kamm has been under house arrest for the past two years in her apartment in Tel Aviv and requested that she serve six months community service while continuing to have her movement restricted. While Kamm has said in multiple interviews that she deserves to be punished for her actions, she has said that her motivation was to shed light on injustices committed by the IDF. Kamm's defense attorney Eytan Lehmen told Israel Hayom on Saturday night that he hopes the court keeps in mind Brig. Gen. (res.) Itzhak Yaakov's case during sentencing. Yaakov was sentenced to one year of house arrest and two years suspended sentence after publishing classified military information in a novel he wrote in 1998. "His high rank and the fact that he was forewarned about releasing sensitive information" made his case more severe, Lehmen said, arguing that his sentence was light in lieu of his crimes.
Kamm sentenced to 4.5 years for leaking classified IDF documents
Anat Kamm, a journalist who stole documents while in IDF, has been under house arrest for two years for passing information on to Ha'aretz reporter • Documents were used in expose on targeted IDF killings.
Load more...