(11) Criminal Appeal 5083/08 Benizri v. State of Israel (June 24, 2009) - In this judgment, the Supreme Court addressed the growing phenomenon of corruption in government institutions, and noted that "In order to deal with this scourge and deter the public, it is no longer enough to use words and words of conquest, and the time has come to take action, by presenting a price tag that is higher than the one that was customary in the past alongside the offenses in this area" (paragraph 63). These words are often cited as a reference to the trend of harsher punishment for bribery offenses. However, it should be remembered that in the same ruling, the state's appeal against the sentence of Rabbi Reuven Elbaz, who was sentenced to 8 months in prison, was rejected Conditional and a monetary fine, after he was acquitted of the charge in which he was accused of taking bribes by former minister Rabbi Shlomo Benizri, and was convicted of bribery and conspiracy to commit a crime.
Obstruction of justice
- For the most part, the punishment for obstruction of justice is done in conjunction with other offenses that are part of the criminal acts. Therefore, the examples that make it possible to isolate the punishment policy used for the offense of obstruction in itself are relatively limited:
(a) Criminal Case (Tel Aviv District) 44959-08-14 State of Israel v. Robinson (July 13, 2016) - Defendant 1 was convicted, inter alia, of the fourth charge attributed to him of obstruction of justice and impeachment in an investigation against the background of an investigation by the Israel Securities Authority and the fear of the discovery of the offenses that were examined. A penalty range has been set for this incident between 6 and 12 months in prison. The defendant was sentenced to 15 months in prison (also in reference to another incident for which the compound was 18 months to 3 years in prison). The deviation from the compound was justified by the defense of justice, the passage of time, and the torture of the law caused to the defendant. On appeal to the Supreme Court, the sentence was reduced to 11 months in prison (Criminal Appeal 5836/16 Robinson v. State of Israel (7.1.2018)).