Elimelech Stern, a 22-year-old Chassidish resident of Beit Shemesh, was sentenced Thursday morning by the Jerusalem District Court to three years in prison after he was convicted two months ago of maintaining contact with a foreign agent and carrying out missions for them in exchange for cryptocurrency payments.

The days Stern has already spent in custody will be deducted from his sentence. In addition, he was given a one-year suspended sentence and a fine of 10,000 shekels.

Stern is the first of those involved in the Iranian espionage affairs to be sentenced outside a plea bargain.

Judge Miriam Lomp wrote in the verdict: “His actions were not at the highest level of severity. This was a normal individual who found himself in a personal and financial crisis. I took his circumstances into account, as well as the fact that he had been a very positive figure in the community. On the other hand, these offenses were committed during wartime and are part of a very widespread phenomenon. That is why I set the punishment as I did—the bottom line is that it’s heartbreaking that such an avreich fell from such a high place to a deep pit.”

She further wrote: “The prosecution also submitted an expert opinion showing the scope and danger of this phenomenon. There are dozens of people and dozens of indictments involving similar activity connected to Iran. The difference is that he didn’t know his handler was from Iran. He willfully ignored the fact that he was dealing with a foreign agent, and therefore, his level of culpability is lower than that of other defendants.”

According to reports, Stern carried out the missions due to his financial pressures and not for ideological reasons.

Despite the large number of similar cases, Stern is the first among those involved in Iranian espionage operations to be sentenced without a plea bargain.

The prosecutors, who sought a seven-year prison sentence, noted that since Stern’s indictment, more than 30 additional indictments have been filed for similar offenses, describing Iran’s expanding efforts to recruit and operate agents within Israel across all sectors of society. Prosecutors argued that the growing number of incidents demonstrates insufficient deterrence and that harsher punishment is required to counter the threat.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)