An Israeli woman who entered Syria illegally and was returned in a deal brokered by Russia last month was indicted on Sunday.
While the exact details of the deal remain under a gag order, Israel has reportedly paid Russia to deliver an unknown number of doses of its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to Syria.
A gag order has been placed on further details of the indictment.
"Unlike in past cases where state security was actually compromised yet no indictment was filed against those who crossed the border, in this case, it is clear to all that the young woman did not harm and had no intention of harming state security,” the woman’s defense attorneys stated.
“Therefore it is puzzling to file an indictment against a young woman without a criminal record who comes from a complex background.”
The 22-year-old woman, who hails from the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Modi'in Illit in the West Bank, crossed the border to Syria last month in an unfenced area near the Hermon Mountain on the Golan Heights.
The IDF reported that this was not the first time the woman attempted to cross the border into Syria and that she also previously tried to cross the border into Egypt and Jordan as well. The woman was also previously photographed driving near the border fence by Lebanese civilians.
The woman was eventually returned to Israel following a Russian-mediated deal between Jerusalem and Damascus which included two captive Syrian shepherds who were arrested after crossing the border into Israel.
Upon her return to Israel, the woman was questioned by the Shin Bet security service about the circumstances of her recent detention in Syria.
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IDF troops conduct the transfer of the shepherds on the Syrian border
(Photo: Avihu Shapira)
The woman previously wrote on her Facebook page that she is “an eternal nomad.” Adding she did not recognize any borders.
"I do not recognize your lines. Not green, not blue, nor purple. Not even a red line will not stop me," she previously wrote