A new INSS report outlines recent changes in the motives of Israeli Arabs who assist terrorist organizations. In the past, many of these Israeli-Arab spies were motivated by promises of money and/or drugs. However, the recent arrest of Rawi Sultani indicates a shift from monetary to nationalistic motives. While attending a camp run in Morocco by the Israeli-Arab nationalist party Balad, Sultani made contact with a Hezbollah official. The relationship between Sultani and Hezbollah included instructions to Sultani to monitor the movements of IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi in the Kfar Saba gym for a future assassination attempt. The author describes the incident, writing:
“On the personal level, Rawi Sultani was apparently ideologically motivated. As reported in the Israeli media, while at camp in Morocco Sultani contacted the Hizbollah agent who lectured to the campers on Hizbollah’s war against Israel. Sultani initiated contact with the Hizbollah representative to inform him that he had access to the Israeli chief of staff. Any individual who contacts an element hostile to Israel and volunteers information of this sort does so for two possible reasons: to receive money or some other benefit, or for ideological reasons. The immediate context in which the contact was made – after a lecture on Hizbollah’s struggle against Israel – and the fact that Sultani never collected any significant amount of money during the year he was in contact with his Hizbollah handler indicate that his actions were ideologically driven, and that he had a genuine desire to assist the Lebanese organization’s campaign against Israel….
“In this sense, the Sultani affair – assuming, of course, that he is guilty of the charges against him – is unusual and particularly worrisome. “
