The Jerusalem Magistrates Court sentenced former Defense Minister Yitzchak Mordechai to a suspended sentence of 1.5 years in prison this afternoon. He was convicted six weeks ago on two counts of indecent acts against two women under aggravated circumstances. While one judge, Rivka Friedman-Feldman, felt he should be sentenced to a prison term of four months, her two colleagues - Ya\'ir Carmel and Yaakov Tzaban - ruled that Mordechai\'s fall \"from a high plateau to a deep pit\" is a punishment in and of itself. The latter two also wrote that Mordechai\'s activity on behalf of the State - he served as Commanding Officer of all three IDF Commands, in addition to his government terms as Defense and Transportation Minister - must also be taken into account, as well as the large amount of time that has passed since his crimes. A relieved Mordechai insisted that he plans to appeal his conviction.