Former Israeli chief rabbi Yona Metzger, convicted of taking more than $1.9 million in bribes, fraud and obstructing justice, was sentenced Thursday to serve four-and-a-half years in jail, court officials said.
A Jerusalem court rejected a plea bargain under which the ex-chief rabbi of the Ashkenazi branch of Judaism would have been imprisoned for three-and-a-half years and fined $1.3 million.
