Israeli Arab charged with handing information to Hezbollah

A court in Israel's northern city of Haifa on Sunday charged an Israeli Arab with passing security- related information to Hezbollah during pilgrimages to Mecca six years ago. The state prosecution said Zaher Omar Yusefin, 45, a resident of Shfaram, met with Hezbollah operatives on a number of occasions while leading Israeli Arabs on pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia. In those meetings, he allegedly divulged information that included the coordinates of northern Israeli military bases and locations of sites where Hezbollah rockets had landed within Israel during the 2006 Lebanon war, local Ynet news website reported. According to the indictment, Yusefin also helped the agents of the Shiite militant group meet with some youths during their journey to Mecca for the Haj. While the offenses were allegedly committed in 2007, the security service had only launched the investigation a month ago. Yusefin was charged with making illegal contact with a foreign agent, aiding an enemy entity and providing potentially valuable information to the enemy. The defendant's attorney refuted the charges, saying his client was not aware that the people he met during dinners in Saudi Arabia were linked to Hezbollah. The court extended Yusefin's remand until Thursday, when it reconvenes to deliberate the case.