NCO who spied for Hizbullah jailed for 11 years

Lunatik

Lunatik

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Former Israeli NCO Louai Balut expresses regret at military court hearing after being convicted of passing sensitive information to Lebanese terror group. Despite severity of charges, judges hand down 11-year prison sentence

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The Tel Aviv Military Court on Thursday sentenced First Sergeant Major Louai Balut to 11 years in prison after convicting him of spying for the Hizbullah terror organization. Balut was convicted of espionage and aiding the enemy while serving as tracker in the IDF Northern Command. The court also ordered he be discharged from the IDF.

Balut, 35, resides in the village of Fasuta in the Upper Galilee.

According to the indictment, from December 2007 to February 2008 Balut was in contact with a Lebanese citizen and Hizbullah operative known as Abu Hassan.


In cellular telephone conversations between the two, Balut provided the Hizbullah member with classified information pertaining to military operations.


He also passed on information to a second Hizbullah contact, a man named Abu Ali.


The indictment revealed that Balut had communicated with Abu Ali on 20 separate occasions.


The bill of indictment stated that “the accused committed these actions with the intent of assisting an enemy in a war against Israel."

Moreover, the indictment cited a connection between the culprit and a third Hizbullah operative named Abu Safi.


The extent and nature of the information passed by Balut to Hizbullah was only detailed in a confidential addendum.

Following the sentencing, Balut's defense attorney, Tami Ulman, noted that this was a complicated trial with many witnesses.


She said that her client was initially accused of more severe crimes than those he was eventually charged with, such as treason.


“These were maximum penalty crimes for which he could have received life imprisonment or execution, and thus the punishment he received was reasonable in relation to the crimes for which the non-commissioned officer was convicted.”


Senior intelligence officers called upon by the prosecution during the trial spoke of the gravity of offenses ascribed to Balut.

During the hearing, it was also revealed that the accused requested money in exchange for the information he supplied but according to him, he never received any payment.


In his final remarks to the judges, Balut expressed regret for his actions.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3592300,00.html
 
People who are spying on something for someone are suppose receives the death sentence just like the old-fashioned....
 
Fox said:
People who are spying on something for someone are suppose receives the death sentence just like the old-fashioned....
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So you think that people like Yuri Nosenko, who provided the USA with their best source of information during the cold war should have been executed?
 
If Mr. Nosenko had been caught by the Soviets, then yes, he should've been executed. That only makes sense. Would you want one of your people selling your secrets to 'the enemy'? I think not.
 
I was making the point that it all depends whose side you view it from.

Spies have been executed in the USA and plenty of other places, but for some reason it seems to have dropped out of favour in the US, where of late they would rather save the spies in the hope that they might be exchanged for ours when they are caught.
 
I agree shoot the bastard. In public! Make an example Spies get off too easy these days.

Military personell that are turned should be shot in public this punishment should be swift and sure so that there is little doubt that it will be the fate of any one else considering working for the other side.
 
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Shooting him would be doing him a favor. 11 years of getting his sh*t pushed in then not being able to land a job after that is probably the worst thing you can do to the guy.
I wonder what his motivation was. Monetary? Blackmailed? Or kinda like how celebrities like to shoplift.
 
Possibly his motive was to help remove the Zionists from his own country.

If we like to go down this line, the Germans in WWII had every justification in shooting the Marquis. Like I said, One man's spy is another man's patriot, it just depends who's side you are on.

Don't even bother telling me I'm anti-Semitic, I'm of Jewish decent. I don't allow it to stop me from seeing the truth though.
 
Well, other than the walls and such I don't know a WHOLE lot about what Israel does with the Palestinians these days so I can't comment much.
 
I must admit, the thought that we have spies in our midst is unsettling, but there's no logical reason why it should be so. What I find distasteful is when one of "our own" spies for our enemy, to me this is a case perhaps for the death penalty.

The fact that one of our opponents spies for his own side is only to be expected. More fool us if he gets away with it. We vetted him and put him in a position where he could do his dirty deed, we are as much at fault as he is, maybe more.
 
In my opinion spies are heroes regardless of whose side they're on. There really isn't much of a choice for them, no right or wrong. These people don't only do a great service to their respective nations, they literally go beyond their duty, they LIVE a life of sacrifice. Multiple identities, no emotional attachments, no sharing everythign with your "wife", always looking over your shoulder, always trying not to make a mistake. It is the ultimate extreme when it comes to 'stressful jobs'. If you get cautgh, or rather when, you're most likely tortured (or should we call it enhanced interrogation?) and if your lucky killed quickly, if not, imprisoned for the rest of your life and continue to be periodically tortured until you die naturally or kill yourself. And the best part? No one in the public domain will know anything about you.
 
The enemy keeps me employed.
However, the douche bag who works in my office who works for the other side just pisses me off.
 
Act like you're working for his side too and disinform him/do counter-intel. It could be more fun and rewarding. :smil:
 
senojekips said:
Possibly his motive was to help remove the Zionists from his own country.

If we like to go down this line, the Germans in WWII had every justification in shooting the Marquis. Like I said, One man's spy is another man's patriot, it just depends who's side you are on.

Don't even bother telling me I'm anti-Semitic, I'm of Jewish decent. I don't allow it to stop me from seeing the truth though.
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Oddly enough I am all in favour of shooting them as well, I still believe we should have done away with the both the French and Israeli's that have been caught here in the last 20 years.

Will it stop it happening again, probably not but it will stop the same ones re-offending elsewhere and it does make a clear statement of intent regarding sovereignty and border security.

I agree with the comment "One man's spy is another man's patriot" but I am certain that people should not get into the spy game without knowing the consequences of failure.
 
MontyB said:
I agree with the comment "One man's spy is another man's patriot" but I am certain that people should not get into the spy game without knowing the consequences of failure.
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I feel then that if this is the case, the same then should apply to servicemen and women of an invading country???

Spies are in effect no different to an invader, only they invade and steal your intellectual property rather than your physical property.

Where does spying begin and end? Francis Gary Powers was a spy, so what about those operating and maintaining our satellite surveillance systems. Should they be shot if your opponents snatch them of the streets in some neutral country. What about those who put these systems into place and formulate policy on this form of spying?

Like all questions involving morality, it has no real answer so long as we both break the rules. This being the case it should be accepted as being a morally legitimate act.

Lunatik said:
Act like you're working for his side too and disinform him/do counter-intel. It could be more fun and rewarding. :smil:
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That's OK if you know who s/he is. I think this is one of the many things counter intel already do, along with turning them or using them as bait to improve our knowledge of their involvement.
 
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senojekips said:
I feel then that if this is the case, the same then should apply to servicemen and women of an invading country???

Spies are in effect no different to an invader, only they invade and steal your intellectual property rather than your physical property.

Where does spying begin and end? Francis Gary Powers was a spy, so what about those operating and maintaining our satellite surveillance systems. Should they be shot if your opponents snatch them of the streets in some neutral country. What about those who put these systems into place and formulate policy on this form of spying?

Like all questions involving morality, it has no real answer so long as we both break the rules. This being the case it should be accepted as being a morally legitimate act.
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I will try and respond in point form on this one.

I feel then that if this is the case, the same then should apply to servicemen and women of an invading country???

Spies are in effect no different to an invader, only they invade and steal your intellectual property rather than your physical property.
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in part I agree however there is one very definable difference, people invading your country generally do so in uniform and generally follow a set of rules.

In terms of POWs there is a fairly clear line of thinking in terms of an escaping prisoner in uniform and one in civilian attire.

Where does spying begin and end? Francis Gary Powers was a spy, so what about those operating and maintaining our satellite surveillance systems. Should they be shot if your opponents snatch them of the streets in some neutral country. What about those who put these systems into place and formulate policy on this form of spying?
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Personally on this case I believe that if Powers was in uniform then he was a POW (I see it along the lines of reconnaissance) and the USA had carried out a aggressive act on the Soviet Union and should have been dealt with along those lines however if he was out of uniform then then by all means treat him as a spy.

In terms of satellites I am a little uncertain here as my understanding is that territorial claims stop at the atmospheric boundary so anything outside that is legal and anything inside that is fair game, these rules although unwritten have been in place since the launch of Sputnik (but again I am not certain about this).
 
This is only my perception, however I feel that an invader, regardless of the fact that s/he may be wearing a uniform should be "fair game". (I am a great adherent of this policy in my personal life) Spies are invaders also, but spying would be pointless if they were to wear a spy uniform:???:.

I see my country as being worth more than my intellectual knowledge, ergo invaders worse than spies, as not all spies are aiding potential invaders. .... Yeah, it starts to get very sticky, if we are to make clear cut laws about these things

It all comes back I suppose to the fact that war in all it's forms is basically an immoral act.

Technology is progressing at warp speed and both the written and unwritten rules of warfare are almost Neanderthal in their present form.
 
senojekips said:
This is only my perception, however I feel that an invader, regardless of the fact that s/he may be wearing a uniform should be "fair game". (I am a great adherent of this policy in my personal life) Spies are invaders also, but spying would be pointless if they were to wear a spy uniform:???:.
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True but thats the risk of the job isn't it.

However in terms of this particular character why wasn't his crime deemed treason?

It seems to fit the bill nicely.
 
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