IDF Captain David Shamir

IDF psychiatrist sentenced to 5 years for trying to spy for Iran

making contacts with a foreign agent, espionage, and attempting to harm national security

make contact with the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Hamas officials, and the Russian intelligence service, the FSB, with the intention of selling them classified information which he came upon during his military service

Shamir said his prime motivation for his actions was what he viewed as the continued breakdown of the state's social fabric.

"The idea was to save my life and that of my son and the last years of my parents' lives, and to have things happen so that we can really be saved," he said. "The thinking was that I would receive money which I would use to attain asylum for me, my son, and my family, and to enable them to live as reasonably as possible, not in Iran, not in Lebanon, but rather in a European country."

"My goal wasn't to cause damage but to truly enable [me] to save some dear people,"