Posted on 06/28/2007 3:00:44 PM PDT by cdbull23
JERUSALEM - Israeli President Moshe Katsav agreed to resign Thursday in a plea bargain that drops rape allegations and the threat of jail time in return for pleading guilty to lesser charges.
The deal was a dramatic reversal by Attorney General Meni Mazuz, who had announced in January that he planned to take Katsav to trial on charges of rape and other sex crimes — counts that could have landed him in prison for 20 years.
Katsav's accusers, all former female employees, condemned the deal, which will impose no jail time for his guilty pleas to sexual harassment and obstruction of justice. He also has to pay damages to the accusers.
Claims that Katsav used his position as Israel's ceremonial head of state to force himself on women were the most serious allegations ever brought against an Israeli leader and intensified growing worries about misconduct by a swelling list of officials.
At a televised news conference after the deal was announced, one of his accusers insisted Katsav raped her, calling him a "pervert" and "serial sex offender" who turned her into a sex slave.
"I am pained by the attorney general's decision because it gives legitimacy to sex offenders," said the woman, whose image was electronically blurred and her identity concealed.
The deal was widely seen as a victory for Katsav, who stepped aside from his duties in January to fight the rape allegations but didn't resign. His seven-year term expires next month but he will resign as part of the deal, his spokesman, Ronen Tzur, told The Associated Press.
Parliament Speaker Dalia Itzik has served as acting president since January and will continue to do so until President-elect Shimon Peres is inaugurated next month.
Tzur said Katsav agreed to the plea bargain "after the smear campaign of the past year and in order to spare his family the pain" of a prolonged legal process.
Mazuz said the deal came at Katsav's request and was finalized just moments before it was announced. He said some of the allegations would have been difficult to prove in court, adding that the president's lawyers presented new evidence at a special hearing last month.
The attorney general said he also took into consideration the damage a prolonged trial would have caused to "the national institution of the presidency and the image of the state of Israel."
The Katsav scandal was only one of several roiling the government, with allegations of corruption and sexual misconduct tainting other leaders, including questionable business deals involving Ehud Olmert before he became prime minister.
Former Justice Minister Haim Ramon lost his job this year and was convicted of an indecent act for forcibly kissing a female soldier. Finance Minister Avraham Hirchson, a longtime Olmert friend, is under investigation in an embezzlement case and has suspended himself from office.
Tzahi Hanegbi, a powerful lawmaker and Olmert ally, faces charges of fraud, bribery and perjury in connection with appointments he made as a Cabinet minister.
Katzav's plea bargain was criticized by many.
Attorney Kineret Barashi accused Mazuz of giving Katsav favored treatment.
"There is no public interest in reaching a plea bargain and reducing his sentence just because we're talking about the president, and only because we're concerned about how we'll look to the world," she told Channel 2 TV.
Miriam Schler, at the Rape Crisis Center in Tel Aviv, called the deal a "travesty."
"Basically, it gives a message to women who were raped and attacked or sexually assaulted by men in positions of power that it's better for them to sit at home and be quiet and not tell anyone about it because it's not worth it for them to actually file a complaint with the police," Schler said.
Shrug. Have at it.
Maybe because not too many of us care about the nation of Isreal.
Now, Israel, on the other hand....
He could run for POTUS on the Democrat ticket, the last rapist to do so won.
Is Real or Is not Real?
Nowadays, typos are the least of my concerns.
Too bad we didn’t treat presidential rapists the same way.
Sadly, sometimes the law is a one way street.
It looks as if he really is guilty.
Accepting this deal is not the act of an innocent man, although as it will not go to trial, we can never be sure.
Olmert. There’s the guy screwing the Jews.
Katsav's accusers, all former female employees,So they're men now?
actually the scandal behind this plea bargain is much worse than Clinton's impeachment proceedings. The Israeli attorney general (who until recently had said publicly that he had seen the evidence and believed that there was reason to believe the rape accusations) declared without a trial that no rapes occurred.
The same attorney general was also rumored to have trumped up the charges against the dismissed Justice minister (who was also his boss).
LOL. I glad I'm not the only one that sees these sorts of things.
See — if Israel were wiped off the map and a Moslem state put in its place, this would never have occurred.
Of course, the rape victim would have been stoned to death months ago...
That is interesting.
Katzav’s lawyer Avigdor Feldman said that the President “has agreed to admit to having hugged her and touched her leg, but nothing worse than that. And we had to basically force him to agree to that, by telling him that if not, he would charged for rape, and that even though he would be acquitted, he would have to go through two years of pure hell first.”
Katzav told journalists Thursday that the only reason he agreed to the plea bargain was to save his family more pain. The suspended president added that he felt “lynched” by the media, but expressed confidence that eventually justice would prevail. “I am tired,” he said. “My family is wrecked. I don’t have the stamina to face a court battle. So I pleaded guilty to hugging and kissing out of affection.”
Under pressure of possible impeachment by the Knesset, President Katzav decided four months ago to suspend himself. In the meanwhile, Shimon Peres has been elected to the office, and will assume the position in mid-July, when Katzav’s term ends. Until then, Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, who has been Acting President in the interim, will be President of Israel.
Explaining why A.’s testimony and charges were erased, Mazuz said, “In some of the versions of what A. testified, difficulties and contradictions were revealed, and these made it difficult to base accurate and reliable findings on them. For many months there have been great doubts regarding the likelihood of sufficiently proving A.’s version... There is no proof of her charges of rape or something close to rape, but there is evidence of a relationship accompanied by anger, jealousy and ill will.”
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122901
Is his wife going to run for President too?
What is really interesting about this is 2 two-fold.
Firstly, consider the contrast to our other “allies” in the region where having sex slaves is a way of life, women are chattel, have no rights under the law, all rape is considered the woman’s fault(including aggravated)and mere dating of and unapproved male leads to death at the hand of a male relative.
Then, secondly, consider that in our country, similar conduct (perhaps worse) is generally accepted (Bill Clinton).
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