Jerusalem - According to Judge Amnon Strasnov of Tel Aviv District Court, Nachum Manbar "sacrificed the security of the state on the altar of his unbridled avarice", David Horovitz reports. Manbar, a multi-millionaire businessman and ex-army paratrooper, gave every impression, added the judge, of being "a liar and a manipulator . . . We were completely and utterly unimpressed by the defendant's testimony and by his personality."
The businessman was convicted on Wednesday of treason for having sold $16 million of chemical and biological weapons components and know-how to Iran.
Yesterday Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, picked up where Judge Strasnov had left off. Manbar, the prime minister declared, was "a criminal who did something terrible . . . unprecedented . . . I hope he'll pay a heavy price."
Mr Netanyahu's intervention was described by Mr Manbar's lawyer as a clear breach of sub judice regulations
Immediately after his conviction, Manbar said the Shin Bet (secret service) "knew exactly what I was doing . . . It was the security services who sent me to meet with the Iranians, encouraged me, then screwed me."
Manbar, who is facing life imprisonment, is to be sentenced on July 15th.