Journalist and lawyer Ronel Fisher was convicted of attempted bribery mediation, obstruction of justice, and receiving property obtained through crime after a decade-long trial that concluded on Wednesday.
The conviction, filed through the Jerusalem District Court, was part of a plea deal, which did not include an agreement regarding the sentence.
Given the severity of Fisher’s actions and the serious harm caused to law enforcement and public trust, the prosecution will request that the court impose a custodial prison sentence.
The indictment to which he pleaded guilty stated that Fisher, who at the time served as a private attorney, together with investigation officer Eran Malka, who also admitted guilt and was convicted under a plea deal and served a prison sentence, acted to obstruct sensitive criminal investigations.
In some of the charges, Fisher was accused alongside Ruth David, a former Tel Aviv District Attorney, for acts attributed to her during a period when she worked as a private attorney.
The parties presented the plea agreement signed between Ronal Fisher and the prosecution to the Jerusalem District Court before Judge Moshe Sobel. Attorney Shira Kani-Tal from the Jerusalem District Prosecution explained that the agreement was reached due to significant evidentiary difficulties uncovered during the proceedings.
According to her, “Even during the cross-examination of the key state witnesses, Eran Malka and the Dead Sea Committee, significant difficulties arose. In Malka’s testimony, contradictions and missing details were revealed, questions arose about the benefits he received, and uncertainties emerged regarding his decision to become a state witness. The court repeatedly pointed out these issues, and we concluded that findings could not be established based solely on his testimony.”
She also noted that during the trial, a memo was discovered nine years later, which the court described as significant investigative material, and disagreements continued regarding the exact date when Malka became a state witness.
“The combination of these factors and the judge’s remarks led us to conclude that the evidentiary basis had collapsed,” she said, adding that the agreement “represents the prosecution taking responsibility.”
Attorney Eli Perry, representing Fisher, sharply criticized the handling of the case. “After nearly ten and a half years of trial, the mountain produced a tiny outcome. From the outset, we maintained that the state witnesses were unreliable and that serious investigative crimes had been committed. The court itself said it had never encountered such a quantity of wrongs as were revealed here.”
Perry added, “We will request to acquit Fisher of all bribery offenses - over 40 charges - because the state witnesses collapsed in court.”
Judge Moshe Sobel approved the amended indictment and ruled that the charges removed from it are considered withdrawn by the prosecution. Accordingly, he acquitted Fisher of several cases, including the Nechamiash brothers case, the Shay Bres case, the Eilon Malkoff case, and the Ofer Namrodi case.
Following the decision, Attorney Perry requested that Fisher be sent to the community service supervisor for an assessment in preparation for sentencing arguments. The prosecution responded that it would request a custodial sentence but did not oppose the referral.
In the Alon Hassan case, the former chairman of the Ashdod Port Committee, Fisher allegedly offered to “close the matter” for Hassan in exchange for $150,000, presenting himself as able to influence the investigation through bribery of police officials. These acts were documented during a covert investigation by the Police Investigations Department, which ended with Fisher’s arrest as he received a briefcase containing money disguised as the $150,000 bribe.
The State Prosecution noted that this is a serious and complex case. Significant evidentiary difficulties arose during the trial, requiring reassessment of the evidence and conviction prospects. Accordingly, a plea agreement was reached, recognizing that it serves the public interest by bringing the case to a conclusion, given the unique complexity of the proceedings, the defendant's acknowledgment of responsibility, the conviction for serious offenses, and the fact that ten years had passed since the indictment. The cases of other defendants, including Ruth David, are still being examined by the court.
Fisher's decade-long case
In July 2014, Fisher was arrested on suspicion of offering Alon Hassan to bribe police officers in exchange for closing a criminal investigation against him. Hassan approached the Police Investigations Department on his own initiative and, under their guidance, recorded the meeting with Fisher and the transfer of the bribe money.
In April 2015, Fisher was arrested again after the police decrypted encrypted information from his mobile phone and recruited his personal assistant as a state witness, on suspicion of multiple bribery incidents involving a police officer to obtain confidential police information about ongoing investigations.
As part of the renewed investigation, Ofer Namrodi was also arrested on suspicion of bribing to obtain confidential information from police investigations, as was former Tel Aviv District Attorney and Fisher’s partner, attorney Ruth David, on suspicion of involvement in Fisher’s actions, such as warning potential suspects that a covert police investigation was being conducted against them.
Additionally, Detective Chief Inspector Eran Malka, former head of an investigation team in the National Economic Investigations Unit, was arrested on suspicion of providing Fisher and his clients with confidential police investigation information.
The Nechamiash brothers, owners of a private construction company, were also arrested on suspicion of paying Fisher to obtain police information from an investigation against them, as was Yeshayahu (Shay) Bres, former CEO of Netivei Israel, on similar suspicion.
Fisher was also suspected of assisting in faking medical issues for several suspects to prevent investigations for medical reasons, with the help of doctors issuing false medical certificates in exchange for bribes.
Due to the involvement of police officers in the case, the investigation was conducted by the Police Investigations Department.