The indictment said that 42-year-old Makhoul met secretly with Hezbollah agent Hassan Jaja in Denmark in 2008. At the meeting, Israeli prosecutors allege, Makhoul agreed to spy on Israel for the group, which gave him specific missions.
Makhoul is the head of Ittijah (the Union of Arab Community-Based Associations), an umbrella group for Arab NGOs in Israel.
Makhoul was arrested in late April together with Omar Said, another Arab suspect in the case.
According to the indictment, Makhoul transferred details and the exact location on two Shin Bet (Israeli internal intelligence agency) facilities, including the security arrangements surrounding them, in the north. He also provided Hezbollah with details about the Israeli Rafael defense industry facility in the North as well as a Mossad (Israeli external spy agency) office located in northern Israel.
The indictment said that Makhoul was also asked by Hezbollah to collect information on the security surrounding the convoys of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, his Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin although, according to a senior Israeli security official, he did not succeed.
Hezbollah also tried to use Makhoul to gather accurate information on the effect its rocket attacks against Israel had during the July 2006 War on Lebanon.
The indictment Israeli security sources said that Hezbollah was mostly interested in the targets that were hit by the statistical Katyusha rockets of which it fired some 4,000 into Israel during the month-long war. This was done as part of Hezbollah efforts to more effectively utilize its rockets in a future war, the sources said.
The indictment also detailed how a Hezbollah operative installed encryption system on Makhoul’s personal computer.
Abdo, an activist for the Balad Arab political party, was charged with maintaining contact with an enemy agent and transferring information that could be used by the enemy.
Prior to his hearing at the Haifa District Court, Makhoul met his wife for the first time since his arrest.
“The Shin Bet controls the Israeli justice system,” he said, “I deny all of the allegations.”
