Free Republic

ISRAEL police say they have enough evidence to indict President Moshe Katsav on charges of rape, sexual harassment and wire-tapping, in the latest blow to the country's beleaguered leadership. Mr Katsav, who is due to open the new session of Parliament today, is immune from prosecution as holder of the largely ceremonial post of president but could face impeachment by the Knesset. "There is sufficient evidence indicating that in several cases ... the president carried out acts of rape, forced sexual acts, sexual acts without consent and sexual harassment,'' police said in a statement. "There is sufficient evidence indicating violation...

Apr. 2, 2006 3:02 | Updated Apr. 2, 2006 9:10 President Katsav to kick off coalition talks By GIL HOFFMAN AND JPOST STAFF President Moshe Katsav will begin holding consultations with party representatives on Sunday ahead of his decision this week on whom he should ask to form Israel's next government. The consultations will kick off at noon when Kadima representatives Haim Ramon, Avraham Hirchson, Roni Bar-On, Dalia Itzik, Avigdor Yitzhaki and Marina Solodkin visit Beit Hanassi. They will be followed by MKs from Labor, Shas, Israel Beiteinu and the Likud. Katsav will meet Monday with representatives from the National...

Katsav skips Lodz ceremony By ETGAR LEFKOVITS In a diplomatic snub, President Moshe Katsav decided to skip the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the liquidation of the Lodz Ghetto held on Sunday in the central Polish city, without informing city officials he was not coming. The city-sponsored commemorations, which drew 5,000 Holocaust survivors and visitors from around the world, included the inauguration of a monument in memory of the Jews of Lodz at the site of a former freight train station from which the Germans sent nearly 150,000 Jews to their deaths. Katsav had been invited to attend the...

Editorial: Happy birthday, Shimon Shimon Peres "Opposition," said William Blake, "is true friendship." We think of that line in the afterglow of Shimon Peres's 80th birthday party, which brought together, among other celebrity mismatches, Moshe Katsav, Bill Clinton, Terje Roed-Larson, and Ariel Sharon for what turned out to be a moving event. If little else, these men share an admiration for Peres in which we join. Outside the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, where the day's formal festivities were held, protesters called for bringing the "Oslo criminals" to justice. No Israeli newspaper has been more steadfast in its opposition to...

LETTER FROM RUTH MATAR (WOMEN IN GREEN) JERUSALEM Friday, September 19, 2003 Dear Friends, Ten years ago, on August 20, 1993, Shimon Peres celebrated his 70th birthday in Oslo, Norway. According to his book, “The New Middle East”, he initialed “in the wee hours of the night” an Arab-Israeli Accord, which had been arrived at in utter secrecy. According to Peres this Norway setting was ideal. A close-knit group of Norwegian Government people made itself available for passing messages between Israel and the PLO. The group included Foreign Minister Jurgen Holst and his wife, Marianne, and the head of the...

Celebrating 80 Years with Shimon Peres "The Marking of Peres' 80th Birthday is an opportunity to look forward with the man who has his feet firmly planted on the ground as his vision sails to the future." THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE OF PERES 80 -------------------------------------------------------- THE OFFICE OF SHIMON PERES AND THE PERES CENTER FOR PEACE Contact: YORAM DORI - Beeper: 972-3-610-6666 code: 45544 YAEL LOTAN - LOTAN COMMUNICATIONS E-mail: lotan@lotan.org.il ALIZA GOREN E-mail: aliza@gorenco.co.il JOEL LEYDEN - LEYDEN COMMUNICATIONS (Israel) E-mail: media@leyden.net LINDA RIVKIND - Government Press Office E-mail:lrivkind@netvision.net.il WHY A BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR SHIMON PERES? Tel Aviv----September 20……The Israeli...

The President of the State of Israel, Moshe Katsav today (Thursday) February 13, 2003, sent a severe letter to the King of Belgium, in which he expressed his chagrin at Belgium's High Court's decision to try Israelis in their courts. President Katsav totally rejects Belgium's moral right to bring Israeli leaders and IDF officers to trial. The president emphasized that Israeli leaders and IDF officers operate according to international norms, the Israeli law, their conscience and basic human morality, and that no-one has the right to doubt the ethical standards Israel holds itself to, and that those who accuse us...