The man indicted for fraudulently pocketing money solicited as donations was convicted on Monday at Tel Aviv's Magistrates Court. Ronen Bar-Shira was found guilty of most of the charges against him.
Bar-Shira collected money several years ago in order to help free kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit and to aid victims of a major wildfire. Following his sentence, Bar-Shira is likely to appeal the ruling.
Bar-Shira, a 57-year-old resident of Be'er Sheva, was accused of exploiting misfortune to obtain money illegally.
"We had only one job," his mother once told police, "to trick people".
According to Bar-Shira's indictment, he used the campaign to free Shalit to steal money he convinced people to donate.
He similarly promised members of the Bet Oren kibbutz that was damaged by a fire, claiming he could get millions in donations if NIS 100,000 were transferred to intermediaries – which he promptly took for himself. Bar-Shira received a total of more than NIS 1 million from these donations.
Bar-Shira made similar gambits to defraud a nearby kibbutz and the intensive care unit at Rambam Hospital, but failed to obtain the funds in these cases.
In his 2012 trial, Bar-Shira said he was a scapegoat and presented documents he claimed proved his innocence.