Former Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai received a suspended sentence yesterday.(AP)

	Mordechai could still serve in the Knesset
	Critics say light sentence "bordered on being scandalous"
	Too light a sentence Jerusalem Post
	Yitzhak Mordechai convicted of sexual misconduct

In a 2-1 decision, judges Yaakov Tsaban and Rafi Carmel ruled in favor of a suspended sentence, while Rivka Friedman-Feldman called for sending Mordechai to jail for four months. Politicians and leaders of women's rights groups criticized the decision, saying the light sentence "bordered on the scandalous."

In their majority opinion, justices Tsaban and Carmel said

"Mordechai gave the worst possible example of all" - Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman in a dissenting opinion

that Mordechai's crimes justified a prison sentence, but they took into account Mordechai's military past and political service. "When a glorious career, body and soul are smashed, the court does not also have to destroy the individual with a deliberately severe punishment," the court ruled. "Along with society's accounting for significant sexual crimes, society also owes this man a true debt, and the court cannot ignore it," the ruling added.

In her minority opinion, Friedman-Feldman called for jail time because it would have a deterrent effect. "Precisely such a person, serving in such positions, should be a model of proper behavior for his subordinates. But in this case Mordechai gave the worst possible example of all," Friedman-Feldman wrote.

Friedman-Feldman said her call for a severe sentence was due to the fact that Mordechai used his position, as a general and as Defense Minister, to impose his sexual will on subordinates. According to Friedman-Feldman, the suspended sentence handed down to Mordechai would not send the proper message about the behavior expected of public servants.

The judges unanimously determined that Mordechai's conviction carries the taint of moral turpitude, meaning that for the next 10 years, Mordechai cannot hold public office. Even so, Mordechai could continue to serve in the Knesset under existing eligibility rules.

Appeals will be filed
"I am certain of my innocence and I will appeal this judgment until I am acquitted," Mordechai said to reporters as he left the courthouse yesterday.

Mordechai's lawyer, Yair Golan, said that they would "appeal on the grounds that the court was wrong in determining that [Mordechai] was guilty of any of the charges on which he was convicted."

State Prosecutor Eli Abarbanel said that the gravity of Mordechai's crimes called for at least a short amount of jail time. He added that the state attorney's office would consider a possible appeal for a stiffer sentence by a higher court.

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