Two months after being convicted in the Holyland Real Estate trial, former Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky filed his appeal with the Supreme Court. The appeal was filed on Monday, 29 Menachem Av 5774.
In the appeal Lupoliansky’s attorney highlights his client’s life’s work, his dedication to chessed and helping others. It cites the injustice and “loss of balance and proportion” in the sentencing. The appeal is against “a unilateral factual and legal analysis that is cold as ice while in reality the facts cannot stand the test of a social audit…there is a feeling of unfairness and injustice…”
Attorney Yair Golan explains the appeal addresses both the conviction and jail term, explaining he should not have been convicted but even if he was, he should not have been sentenced to prison. Golan is hoping to persuade the High Court to remove the bribery conviction which would eliminate the jail sentence.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
Reb Uri is an ehrlicher yid! He was convicted before the case began! While “technically” he was wrong during the Holy Land affair, not one penny went to him nor his family! He took no trips like uh-hum… He served the office of mayor righteously and vigilantly and that be taken into account in the overall picture! Also, his terminal illness may also be considered. The judicial system seemed to mimick the courtroom of Linda Reade in the Rubashkin case! I’m hopeful the high court will see it in the whole picture and either overturn the conviction or let him stand convicted with no jail time! He did not deserve what he got!
Yaapchik: please read the official court decision for yourself (freely available online, just google for it). Rabbi Lapoliansky was convicted because money was donated to a Yad Sarah, a cause he loved, and because Rav Elyashiv granted him weekly visits on the basis of his work in Yad Sarah. So he ‘received’ he money in the form of the honor of meeting with Rav Elyashiv.
So I disagree that he was ‘technically wrong’. The court decision is ludicrous and a travesty.
1. Rav Elyashiv did not meet with chessed doers as a payback for their work. (Did he meet with Benny Fisher from Mish’an L’choleh?) Rather he met with people in the public arena, which Rabbi Lapoliansky was.
2. On the basis of the judge’s flimsy logic that anyone receiving some intangible ‘goods’ is being bribed, I’d suggest that the judge, who’s miserable career will be advanced by this haredi-baiting is receiving a bribe for judgement, rendering it invalid. Its just stupid, and there is no legal precedent for this.
I don’t know Rabbi Lapoliansky, nor have I ever spoken to him, but this is a terrible wrong that I’d like to help fight. Anyone interested can PM me through the mods.
I am absolutely shocked at the fact that there are people who think that what one does with illegally obtained money justifies how he got it. It is against Halacha, end if story.
In fact, I believe this is what Chazal meant with the concept of “Ein Ze Mevarech Ela Minaetz”.
Lopaniansky: his dedication to chessed and helping others is good but his use of Yad Sarah for cheating (money laundering donation money) and funding other projects seems to have crossed the line of legal into the bad area of illegality.
Should a court of law look and the good he did and excuse him the bad he did? Or should the court of law look at the bad he did and focus on that?
This is an important distinction; we are basically deciding if a person is equal under the law or guilt has little to do with the law, only with the external acts that are not related to a crime.
For instance, Hitler never killed anyone himself and was very kind to Aryan children and animals; should he be portrayed as a super villain?
Ben Laden raised much money to help people in distress, should and he did not actually kill anyone; should he be forgiven for his role as an administrator of the 9/11 terror attack?
The answer is: first decide if he is guilty or not. Then comes the sentencing for that crime. Afterwards we look to see if after all he is a good person(doing so much good and hopefully so little bad) we can reduce the sentence.
BTW: I heard this from a great Rosh Yeshiva whose name I will not mention in relation to a similar case.
Friends, no one is justifying crime!!
Rather, the real criminal here is the judge. Not only for his crooked verdict, but for making a mockery of the court.
The judge never said that he took a cent. Neither did Lapolianski even ask for a donation. Rather money was donated to the organization he created, Yad Sarah, and the judge considered the money as having been paid to him because Rav Elyashiv met with him on that account. Aside from being silly and untrue, it also opens accusations of bribery against anyone who somehow will be socially benefited by a donation.
If someone donates to your grandson’s school and the principal will smile more brightly at you because you indirectly generated the donation, you will receive years in prison for that!!!
Let the world know what a joke the Beit Mishpat is in Israel!!
It must be hard to believe, so here is the original: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1K1pEsA2RhcbVJhb1h6YmZaSEE/edit?usp=sharing