Supreme Court shortened the sentence of M.K Faina Kirshenbaum from 10 years to 7.5

The Supreme Court today (Wednesday) shortened the sentence of the former Deputy Minister of the Interior, Faina Kirschenbaum from ten to seven and a half years in prison. Kirschenbaum was convicted of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in the Israel Beitenu case. In addition to this, the judges also shortened the sentence of Rami Cohen, the former director general of the Ministry of Agriculture who was convicted in the case of accepting bribes and other crimes - from 30 to 18 months in prison.
Judges Yitzhak Amit, Anat Baron and Alex Stein justified the mitigation of Kirschenbaum's sentence "taking into account the principle of uniformity of punishment, in light of the much lighter punishments imposed on those involved in the various affairs". In addition to this, the judges determined that it must be taken into account that when the offenses were committed "there was no orderly mechanism in the Israel Beitenu party to determine the manner of distribution of the coalition funds". They explained that the lack of clear instructions on the subject contributed "to the formation of the method and the scope of the affair".
Another consideration noted by Judge Amit is that the situation of female prisoners serving their sentences in "Neva Tirzah" prison is more difficult than male prisoners, who are divided between the various prisons according to their personal characteristics, the type of crime for which they were imprisoned and the population of the prisoners in the prison. He mentioned that at the time there was a plan to move the "Neva Tirzah" prison to a new, modern building, but this has not been carried out to date.
As for Rami Cohen, Judge Stein, who wrote the main verdict in his case, included in the reasons for mitigating his sentence his significant service in the IDF in senior positions, his age and other personal circumstances. Judges She and Cohen withdrew from the appeal against the conviction.
Among the reasons given by the judge is the fact that the situation of female prisoners in the "Neva Tirzah" prison is more difficult than that of male prisoners who are divided between the various prisons
Kirschenbaum was convicted last year of 15 cases of accepting bribes, four cases of asking for bribes and three cases of fraud and breach of trust. She began serving her prison sentence in December. In addition to actual imprisonment, she was sentenced to 12 months of probation and a fine of NIS 900,000.
At the center of the affair was a criminal method employed by Israel Beytenu, in which the party used its governmental power to exploit public funds for the needs of the party and the personal needs of its members. Kirshenbaum, who served as the party's secretary general, and the bribe recipients in the case, used to help various parties receive government budgets and donations, in exchange for a percentage of them. These were returned to them in creative ways, such as hiring associates, financing expenses, fictitious transactions, and personal gifts. According to the verdict in the case, in the same At the time, Kirschenbaum took a bribe of two million shekels for herself and her party.
Lawyers Giora and Oren Adrat, who represent Kirshenbaum, welcomed the reduction in her sentence and noted that "the Supreme Court accepted our claims regarding the problematic nature of the coalition's financial mechanism and also the claims regarding the harsh prison conditions in Neve Tirzah prison. The remaining sentence is not light at all, but leaves a horizon and hope for the future ". Cohen's attorneys, Avi Himi, Jacques Chen, Shay Ilon and Moshe Weiss, welcomed the reduction in Mersham's sentence and said that "his rights for his enormous and extraordinary contribution to the country and its security have not been forgotten. They testify more than anything to the man and his work, and they will add to and stand up to him in the future ".
Judge Amit wrote in the verdict things that may be relevant to case 4000 in which former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is accused of accepting a bribe in the form of biased coverage in his favor on the Walla website. In his decision today, Amit mentioned charges in the context of which Kirschenbaum made sure that the Samaria Development Company and the Megilot Regional Council transferred funds to the "Yezros" website: "If the reader wonders why she objected to the popularity of the "Yezros" website, the reader will be told that it is an Israeli news website that operates in the Russian language, among the sites the main ones operating in this language, and is considered a news source that influences public opinion."

According to Amit, "David Godovsky (former head of the Israel Beitenu headquarters who was convicted of bribery in the HM case) used to talk with the relevant figures on the website about the content of the website, with the aim of strengthening the image of the Israel Beitenu party in general and the image and position of the appellant in particular." More Amit pointed out that Kirshenbaum signed agreements on behalf of Yisrael Beytenu with the website, where the party published content during election campaigns. "This explains the importance that the appellant attached to the website and the reason why she wanted to do well with it. An elected official has a clear interest in media coverage of his activities, all the more sympathetic media coverage, and before us is another example of the varied faces of favoritism," wrote a colleague.