"A public servant is not entitled to receive a benefit even from a friend, as long as there is some contact between them in the framework of the public servant's role. The looser the personal acquaintance, the more 'respectable' the benefit of the pleasure, or the stronger the connection with the role, the greater the tendency to deduce from the circumstances of giving and taking the required mental element. The purpose of giving or taking is decisive. If there is evidence that the benefit was given or taken 'for an action related to the function' of the public servant – that person is guilty of the offense of bribery... Moreover. If the benefit of the benefit exceeds the boundaries of what is accepted in daily life and there is no personal acquaintance relationship between the parties other than relationships that derive from the role of the taker, these circumstances constitute a body of evidence for an improper purpose...".
See also in the same context Criminal Appeal 4506/15 In the matter Bar mentioned above.
- In our case, the question that needs to be clarified is whether the gift was given only on the basis of the friendship relations or as a bribe for the promotion of the economic interests of defendant 2 (in the first charge) and of defendant 3 (in the second charge), when even a "mixed" purpose (membership alongside economic interest) will also be considered an improper purpose with incriminating significance.
About Ben-Eliezer, his duties, and his medical condition at the point in time when the funds were transferred to him by the two defendants
- Ben-Eliezer, born in 1936, began his public career in the IDF, where he rose to the rank of brigadier general, and served in his last position as Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories. Beginning in the 1980s, he served as a member of the Knesset, and even served in a variety of ministerial positions in the various Israeli governments, including Minister of Infrastructures and Energy (4.5.06 – 13.3.09) and Minister of Detention until the end of the proceedings (31.3.09 – 19.1.11). There was no dispute, as stated, that in each of his positions Ben-Eliezer was a public servant. There is no dispute that the Ministry of Infrastructures (also referred to by some of the witnesses as the "Ministry of Energy") is responsible for the energy sector in the State of Israel, so that the two terms that I will use in the judgment in this context ("the Ministry of Infrastructures" and "the Ministry of Energy") reflect the same government unit.
There is no dispute that over the past few years, prior to his death on August 28, 2016, Ben-Eliezer suffered from ill health and required medication.