The arrest of Rami Habibullah
(Video: Israel Police)
Rami Habibullah, 43, a teacher and high school graduation coordinator in the Galilee village of Ein Mahil, revealed to interrogators that he had contemplated a misguided thought in a moment of sadness: to aid Hamas as revenge by assisting in the bombing of a sensitive security location.
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He was indicted last week for attempting to assist Hamas during the war. At the heart of the accusation are photographs of a security facility producing ammunition, which Habibullah sent to Hamas operatives on Telegram in October. Alongside the images, he also provided the precise GPS location of the facility.
During the interrogation, parts of which were obtained by Ynet on Tuesday, he admitted to photographing the facility in revenge for Israeli actions in Gaza. Habibullah, who also volunteered as an imam in a mosque, met operatives of the terror group in Turkey and transferred tens of thousands of shekels to them on various occasions. He confessed to have been following Hamas and supporting the terrorist organization for years.
He said he passed the photos to Hamas, "so they would have a target to fire rockets on. He told his interrogators that he made contact with a man after he saw that he posted a picture with Khaled Mashal, the former head of Hamas who resides in Qatar. "I remained in contact with him regarding righteousness. During the war, I suggested photographing a sensitive security location or an important place so they would have a target, and that's what happened," he said. "I photographed a place for him, I don't know what the place is called, I sent him the location, I sent him one or two pictures, which were taken 20-30 meters from the gate, and after that, another picture of the closed gate, and I also sent him the location. I told him, 'See if the place is suitable as a target or not,' I meant if their rockets could hit the place. We spoke in code so that no one would suspect us. He checked and told me that the options were difficult from the south, meaning from Gaza, and from the north, meaning from Lebanon - there was no capabilities."
Investigator: "Did you send any more locations?"
Habibullah: "No, I didn't send any more. But I thought about sending more locations if they needed them after the first one. I thought about sending Highway 1, Highway 6, and the Azrieli Tower. There is a journalist who said that if they want to end the war, it will only happen if the country suffers a blow, including the Knesset and the Ben Gurion Airport. But I didn't talk to anyone about these things; these are central locations."
According to the indictment, Habibullah sought revenge after the deadly explosion that occurred at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza in October - an explosion initially blamed on Israel, which later turned out to have been the result of a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
"Habibullah intentionally acted to harm the security of the state, to assist Hamas in its war against Israel, and in aid of Hamas attacking the facility with rockets," the indictment read.