Overview
- Stern was convicted of contact with a foreign agent and conspiracy to make threats, receiving three years in prison, a one-year suspended term, and a 10,000-shekel fine.
- The verdict found he took instructions over Telegram from an online handler known as “Anna” or “ANNA ELENA,” who paid him in cryptocurrency.
- Assigned tasks included posting propaganda, stashing cash, collecting a phone, and delivering threatening packages with severed animal parts and knives, while he refused orders to murder or set a forest on fire.
- The court said he recruited two additional Israelis and noted he is the first in the recent Iran-linked cases to be sentenced without a plea bargain, after prosecutors sought seven years for deterrence.
- Israeli security agencies recently reported foiling an Iranian-run espionage network and arresting two Jerusalem-area Israelis, with a court gag order restricting further details.