Former Israeli transportation minister Yitzhak Mordechai was convicted on Wednesday on charges of indecent acts against two women under aggravated circumstances by the Jerusalem Magistrates Court, Israeli media reported.
The sentence will be declared later, but according to the Israeli law, the minimum sentence is 21 months because he used force against the plaintiffs, while the maximum for this charge is seven years imprisonment. However, he has the right to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The charges relate to events that took place when he was head of the Israeli army Northern Command.
The court cleared Mordechai of a third charge, after it ruled that the third plaintiff, who actually started the motion against him, was not a reliable witness.
She was a secretary at his office when he was the minister of transportation when she complained that he sexually harassed her.
With the conviction, Mordechai has become the first minister in Israel’s history to be convicted on sexual harassment cases. He’s expected to lose his seat in the Knesset.
In 1996, he was a candidate to premiership but quitted on the last day paving the way for Barak to defeat Netanyahu – Albawaba.com
