World
Disgraced
Avoiding charges of rape, Israeli President Katsav pleads guilty to lesser charges.
Dan Baron
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jerusalem
H
is reputation in shambles from
a sex scandal that broke a year
ago and swelled in subsequent
months, Israel's outgoing president put
an end to the sordid chapter last week by
agreeing to a plea bargain after months of
insisting on his innocence.
Under the deal announced June 28,
President Moshe Katsav will plead guilty
to sexually harassing and molesting
female staff in exchange for prosecutors'
agreement not to pursue rape charges
against him. He will resign early, receive a
suspended prison sentence and pay com-
pensation to the complainants.
This marks the first time an Israeli
head of state has been convicted of sexual
misconduct — a legacy many hope soon
will be forgotten after Shimon Peres takes
over the presidency July 15. For much of
this year, Katsav was on a leave of absence
and Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik served as
acting president.
"Israel's No. 1 citizen has become a con-
victed sexual offender:' Attorney General
Menachem Mazuz told reporters. "The
shame will accompany him forever!'
The deal immediately was deplored
by women's rights group and others who
saw the plea bargain as an easy pass for a
member of Israel's political elite, the latest
in a long string of convictions and lenient
sentences for a corrupt Israeli leadership.
Israel Frustrates UJC
The president and
New York/JTA
CEO of the United Jewish Communities
says the Israeli government is shirking
its responsibilities to its war-weary com-
munities.
Last week in Israel, Howard Rieger
said Israel has not followed through on
its commitments to rebuild Israel's north
and Sderot a year after Israel's war with
Hezbollah and amid ongoing shelling from
the Gaza Strip.
He expressed concern that the govern-
ment again was asking the UJC for money
to refurbish bomb shelters. "Why hasn't it
been solved within the last 12 months?"
he asked.
—
20
July 5 • 2007
Israeli President Moshe Katsav, shouting at a Jan. 24 news conference, had
hotly denied sex allegations.
The attorney for the employee of the
president's residence who had accused
Katsav of rape, known as Complainant A,
petitioned Israel's High Court of Justice
in an effort to block the plea deal, but her
request was denied.
"The attorney general gave in to pres-
sure and the prosecutor forfeited the
doing of justice because we're talking
about the president:' attorney Kinneret
Barashi told reporters. "This is a black day.
At issue is a complainant who told her
truth, in which she believes.
"Along with her, I will fight by all means
in order to change this decision and bring
justice to light. I have a great deal to say,
and the last word has yet to be said."
Mazuz said the State Attorney's Office
entered the plea bargain because it foresaw
difficulties in proving the toughest allega-
tions, some of them dating back years.
"A confession by the president is no
trivial matter:' Mazuz said, defending the
agreement.
But others disagreed. "The plea bargain
sends a clear message to sexual assault
Rieger also said Israel has failed to ful-
fill its commitments to accelerate the pace
of Ethiopian aliyah and ease the absorp-
tion of Ethiopians into Israel.
Australia To Aid P.A., Gazans
Agency Helps Gaza Evacuees
The Jewish Agency for
Jerusalem/JTA
Israel launched a rehabilitation program
for former Gaza Strip settlers.
Under the $1.5 million program, some
8,000 Israelis evacuated from Gaza and
four West Bank settlements in 2005 will
be offered career guidance and emotional
support. Two years after the evacuations,
many of the former settlers have not
adjusted to their new lives and complain
of government inattention.
—
Sydney/JTA Australian Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer said his coun-
try would continue to isolate Hamas, but
give $3.4 million to support the new emer-
gency Palestinian Authority government
and another $2.6 million for humanitarian
aid in Gaza.
Downer was on a two-day visit to Israel
and the territories, said there is a "real
chance" to renew the peace process.
—
Bush To Name Muslim Envoy
President Bush
Washington/JTA
plans to name a special envoy to the
Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Bush, speaking Wednesday at the reded-
—
victims: Better to stay quiet, better not to
tell: the Association of Rape Crisis Centers
said in response. "In the State of Israel,
there is no one to safeguard the victims of
sexual assault."
When Mazuz's office first said in
January that it was considering a rape
indictment, Katsav took a leave of absence
but angrily denied wrongdoing. In a rau-
cous speech in which the president clearly
lost his temper, Katsav spoke of himself
as the victim of a "witch hunt" targeting
successful members of Israel's Sephardic
underclass.
Israeli media quoted sources close to
Katsav as saying that he entered the plea
bargain not because he believes he is guilty,
but as a stopgap measure to spare his fam-
ily the grief of a protracted public trial.
Avigdor Feldman, one of Katsav's law-
yers, denied that the resolution of his
client's case set a worrisome precedent
for serious sex crimes in Israel. "This is a
case in which there was pressure brought
to bear on women to lodge complaints
against the president, to shore up the case
against the president. A woman who suf-
fers from a sexual attack has nothing to
fear:' Feldman told Israel Radio.
Katsav, 62, was born in Iran in 1945 and
lived in a transit camp after immigrating
to Israel with his family at the age of 5.
His meteoric rise in politics as a member
of the Likud Party was capped by his sur-
prising defeat of Peres in the 2000 presi-
dential election. Katsav is married and has
five children.
ication of Washington's Islamic Center,
said the envoy to the world's largest
Islamic umbrella body "will listen to and
learn from representatives from Muslim
states and will share with them America's
views and values.
"This is an opportunity for Americans
to demonstrate to Muslim communities
our interest in respectful dialogue and
continued friendship."
In his speech, Bush cast the defense of
freedoms of Muslims as part of a tradition
of defending the rights of Jews in the for-
mer Soviet Union, Christians behind the
Iron Curtain and Muslims in China and
Burma. He also reiterated his support for
Palestinian statehood.