According to the military investigation conducted by the Northern Command of the Israeli army, the woman arrived in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights near the Syrian border in February, and it is clear that she knew the area in which she planned to cross into Syria.
I climbed a security fence (an older and less powerful barrier than the taller and stronger steel fence used elsewhere along the border), triggering a sensor and alerting the military to a potential breach.
The military investigation stated that the soldier working on security cameras in the area looked for signs of cross-border infiltration, but the systems were focusing on the infiltration of people from outside into the occupied Golan, rather than leaving them, so the escape of the Israeli woman was not revealed.
The army said that the soldiers and officers concerned carried out their orders, so there was no reason to punish them, but that the incident would be studied to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Attempting to cross or enter “enemy” countries is considered a crime subject to prosecution. Nevertheless, the woman was not imprisoned, after the investigators decided that she did not cooperate with any hostile parties in Syria.
After the woman crossed the border into Syria, she entered the Druze village of Khader, where she was arrested and handed over to the Syrian security forces on suspicion of being an Israeli spy. For nearly two weeks, Israel negotiated her release from Syria, and Russia acted as a mediator.
Upon her arrival in Israel, the woman was questioned by the General Security Agency (Shin Bet), and she told investigators that she had gone to Syria “in search of adventure,” and she did not apologize or express her regret for the trip.
“For me, Syria was another destination for the trip,” she said.
The 25-year-old Israeli woman sneaked towards Syria across the border at the foothills of Mount Hermon, an area where security measures are relatively few, and the border fence can be crossed.
It was not the first time that she attempted to cross the border illegally. According to the Israeli authorities, it tried twice to enter the Gaza Strip, once by land, once by sea in a boat, and once attempted to cross into Jordan. It was also filmed last October exploring the Lebanese border.
A Channel 13 news report stated that the woman was suffering from “personal problems”.
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