Palestinian woman sentenced to two and a half years for alleged ties to Hezbollah

An Israeli court sentenced a Palestinian woman to two and a half years in prison on Sunday on allegations she had collaborated with the Shia paramilitary group Hezbollah.

Yasmine Jaber, a 26-year-old, was arrested in August last year when Israeli forces stormed her house in the Old City of Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.  

In a statement attributed to the Israeli spy agency Shin Bet, Jaber was suspected of being recruited by Hezbollah, which Israel considers a terrorist organisation.

Shin Bet said it arrested other members part of a suspected cell led by Jaber, including Ramallah native Tasnim al-Qadi who lived in Turkey.

The agency claimed Jaber was recruited by Hezbollah since she participated in a conference in Lebanon in 2015.

"She was recruited and kept contact with her operatives through agreed-upon secret correspondence through social networking sites… in accordance with security instructions she received from Hezbollah," the statement said.

It also claimed that Jaber met her other members of a cell in Turkey, from whom she allegedly received instructions to recruit more members.

Her family have issued a statement denying the allegations.

Amjad Abu Asab, president of the Jerusalem Committee for Families of Prisoners, slammed the verdict as "unjust", Arab48 report.