Elad Sela brought to court
Elad Sela brought to courtFlash 90

A harsh sentence was imposed Tuesday evening on an Etzion Regional Brigade corporal convicted of disclosing classified military information. 

Elad Sela was sentenced to 45 months in prison, will be on probation after his jail term, and was demoted to the rank of private. 

He was indicted in April for allegedly tipping off Jewish extremists that they were about to be arrested by Israeli security forces for committing "price-tag" vandalism attacks against Arabs. 

A resident of Bat Ayin located between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Sela was arrested on March 10 and charged with "aggravated espionage." 

Sela confessed to passing on "classified and sensitive documents to rightist extremists for ideological motives," the Israeli Security Agency said when he was indicted. 

As part of its verdict, the court ruled that Sela's actions poses a legitimate threat to Israeli national security. 

The sentence imposed on the corporal, almost four years in prison, reflects a strict approach to such crimes from the Military Prosecutor's Office.

A military source told Arutz Sheva that "such offenses must be eradicated from the IDF and a harsh punishment handed out to those who betray the trust given to them by the military apparatus and harm Israel's security interests."