Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Tuesday handed down a sentence of 10 months' incarceration to Suliman Abu Dara, a former policeman indicted for bribery, fraud and breach of faith.
According to the ruling, at the end of 2004, while he was serving as a police officer in Jerusalem's David district, Abu Dara (43) brought a West Bank resident into Israel without a permit.
However, it turned out that this was not an illegal alien, but an undercover agent from the Police Internal Investigations Department.
They agreed on a price of NIS 500 ($133), and that Abu Dara would help the agent get other West Bank residents into Israel without permits. Even though they had agreed on a price, in the end the agent paid for a meal they had shared in a restaurant.
During its sentencing request, the Police Internal Investigations Department noted the severity of bribery, which is even more serious when carried out by a police officer who is supposed to enforce the law.
The Department's representative claimed that Abu Dara had abused his office and the authority invested in him to receive bribes and had thus "tarnished his uniform." He also claimed that the accused had not accepted responsibility for his actions.
'Accused endangered security of State'
The defense counsel requested that the judge take the defendant's personal circumstances into account. Since the incident, he has been dismissed from the police force, but he is the father of four and his wife is sick, so the family's livelihood is dependent on him alone.
Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman wrote in her ruling, "Bribery is a serious offense, especially for a police officer who is supposed to uphold the law, and instead of enforcing the law among criminals he becomes a criminal himself."
The judge also noted that the offense is doubly serious because he intended to bring illegal Palestinians into Israel thereby endangering the security of the State.
"The seriousness of the offense and the public interest demand grave punishment which will send a message to the public, civil servants and other police officers who are charged with enforcing the law, that the courts will not countenance offenses of this kind or danger to the security of the state," she wrote.