31.12.2003 An ISA-Israel Police investigation has recently revealed that two Israeli Arab brothers – Muhammad Shamali, 22, and Ahmad Shamali, 24 – from Ghajar village have provided assistance to Hizballah terrorists in Lebanon, including passing information, receiving orders to purchase technical literature and smuggling drugs into Israel. In exchange for the drugs, the two were requested to carry out intelligence-related tasks.
The geo-political status quo that has prevailed in Ghajar since the IDF withdrawal and its redeployment along the international border and the fact that today, the Israeli-Lebanese border is completely breached at Ghajar, have created fertile ground for contacts and links with Hizballah terrorists who may be found a few meters from Ghajars northernmost homes. As both the present and previous cases (dating from January and February 2003) show, these contacts are exploited for ramified criminal and intelligence-security purposes. Muhammad Shamali has confessed to traveling to Lebanon and meeting with Hizballah terrorists in Kila village, with a Lebanese drug dealer acting as intermediary. Shamali gave Hizballah terrorists information about the IDF position at the entrance to Ghajar, including the number of soldiers stationed there and how they check incoming and outgoing vehicles. Shamali was asked to purchase – and pass on to his Lebanese drug dealer intermediary – various books, including an atlas of Israeli cities, copies of the Yellow Pages, etc. Shamali also confessed to perpetrating at least five drug deals, receiving the drugs from his intermediarys people and passing them on to another Ghajar resident for distribution in Israel. Ahmed Shamali has also confessed to perpetrating several drug deals on behalf of the intermediary and of being aware of his brothers aforementioned activities. Security officials believe that the exposure and arrest of the Shamali brothers has prevented a serious attack on the security of the State of Israel based on the intelligence that the brothers had gathered and were gathering. BPI.
