April 15 (Reuters) - In recent years a number of Israeli politicians have been convicted of various offences or had to step down because of indiscretions. These have mostly involved white-collar crime, but not exclusively. Here is a list of prominent cases in the past two decades:
* MOSHE KATSAV: The former Israeli president was sentenced to seven years in jail for rape after being convicted in December. He had denied charges he twice raped an aide when he was a cabinet minister in the late 1990s, and molested or sexually harassed two other women who worked for him during his 2000-2007 term as president.
* TZACHI HANEGBI: An influential opposition legislator, Hanegbi was convicted of perjury in July 2010. A court determined his offence involved "moral turpitude", effectively stripping him of his seat in parliament under Israeli law.
* AVRAHAM HIRCHSON: Former finance minister, Hirchson was jailed for five years and five months in June 2009 for financial offences that included stealing more than $500,000 from a trade union he led before becoming a cabinet member in 2006.
* SHLOMO BENIZRI: A former cabinet minister and member of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, Benizri was sentenced in June 2009 to four years in prison for taking bribes.
* HAIM RAMON: A former justice minister and once touted as a possible future prime minister, Ramon was convicted of sexual misconduct in 2007 for forcibly kissing a woman soldier who served in the office of then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. He was sentenced to community service and returned to politics, serving in Olmert's cabinet and as a lawmaker until June 2009.
* GONEN SEGEV: A former energy and infrastructure minister from 1992 to 1995, Segev, a physician, was jailed for five years in 2005 for trying to smuggle 30,000 ecstasy tablets into Israel from the Netherlands.
* YITZHAK MORDECHAI: A former defence minister, once a rising star in Israeli politics and a retired general was sentenced to an 18-month suspended jail term in 2001 after being convicted of two counts of sexual assault during his 32-year army career.
* EZER WEIZMAN: The popular Weizman resigned as president in 2000, three years before his second term was due to end, after the attorney-general found he had accepted more than $300,000 in cash gifts from businessmen from 1985 to 1993. Weizman was not put on trial. He died in 2005.
* ARYEH DERI: Then-leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, Deri was ordered by Israel's Supreme Court to resign from the cabinet in 1993 over corruption charges. He was sentenced in 1999 to three years in prison.
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