An Israeli court on Sunday sentenced former Israeli ambassador to Belarus Ze'ev Ben Arye to four months of community service for passing confidential details about a police investigation to the foreign minister.

Police filed charges in May against Ben Arye, who was the ambassador to Belarus between 2004 and 2009, for alerting Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman about the existence of an undercover criminal investigation against the latter by revealing the contents of an Israeli police letter sent to their Belarus counterparts.

When Ben Aryeh learned of the police request, which was passed on to the Israeli embassy, he met with Lieberman, who was visiting Belarus at the time, and briefed him about the issue.

Ben Aryeh's attorneys plea-bargained his charges down to obstruction of justice, passing secret information to an unauthorized person, and failing to abide by the state service's mandatory disclosure protocols, local news outlets reported.

Ben Aryeh also admitted to passing Lieberman documents connected to the request, despite knowing that the investigation was to remain secret.

The police also suspected that Ben-Aryeh got the ambassador post as a quid pro quo for passing sensitive information to Lieberman.

In the verdict, Jerusalem District Court Judge Hagit Mac- Kalmanovich said Ben Aryeh had committed "grave offenses" which seriously obstructed the investigation.

She, however, noted that it was a "one-time mistake" and he had confessed and expressed remorse for his actions, as part of his plea bargain.

"There is no contention about the fact that the defendant's act was serious and may have inflicted serious damage to the investigation, especially his official duties," she said in the verdict.

The judge also pointed out that Ben Aryeh's profession reputation had been tainted and he was expelled from the civil service.

A police investigation targeting Lieberman has been ongoing for the past few years. In April 2011, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced he had tentatively decided to indict Lieberman on charges of fraud, breach of trust, aggravated fraud and money laundering, as will as witness tampering.

Six months ago, an undercover police investigation of Lieberman recommended indicting him on charges of bribery, money laundering and filing false corporate documents among his private business ventures.