The Tel Aviv District Court's ruling to sentence Faina Kirschenbaum, a former deputy minister for the Yisrael Beytenu party, to 10 years in prison on bribery and money laundering charges constitutes a new level of severity of punishment for such crimes, assuming the matter is not appealed in the Supreme Court.
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For years, judges have been extremely lenient with white-collar offenders.
A clear example of this was the case of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The Tel Aviv District Court sentenced the former prime minister to six years in prison for accepting bribes and obstruction of justice during his terms as mayor of Jerusalem and as trade minister, but the Supreme Court reduced it to only 27 months.
When sentencing Kirschenbaum, Judge Yaron Levy emphasized that her devious and corrupt conduct caused direct harm to people, businesses, associations, her own party, but most importantly, undermined public trust in elected officials.
What does not sit well with me, and surely with many members of the public as well, is that top officials that were involved in the affair along with Kirschenbaum were not investigated at all. The loss of public trust in law enforcement is a danger to the very fabric of society.
While in prison, Kirschenbaum will have plenty of time to reflect on her actions and the atmosphere of corruption that had been created, allowing her to commit such disgusting crimes in the first place.
Let us hope that Kirschenbaum will come to understand the severity of the bribery charges of which she was convicted. No doubt, it will be difficult and even torturous, for 10 years in prison is a long time. Nevertheless, one must think of one's actions before committing illegal acts.
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