AG recommends (Israel) President Katsav face rape charges

[sabra]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/816929.html

AG recommends President Katsav face rape charges

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz decided Tuesday that President Moshe Katsav should face charges for alleged rape and other incidents of sexual assault.

Katsav has been accused of raping a former employee of the President's Residence, known only as "A."

A final decision on the indictment will be made only after a hearing, where Katsav wil be able to present his case.

The president has denied the charges stemming from complaints made by several women who worked for him during his tenure as president and, before that, as a Cabinet minister

Mazuz's recommendation was expected some six weeks ago, but was delayed after District Attorney Eli Abarbanel said there was not enough evidence to press charges in at least some of the 14 cases against the president.

[generaldemocrat]

1. Question for those familiar with Israeli politics....

Is there an agenda here? Does Likud/Olmert/etc want Katsav gone and if so, why? Or....it could just also be that he really did commit these crimes?

Thanks.

[Kagemusha]

2. It's a ceremonial figurehead position to begin with

there's no advantage to kicking him out for political reasons. It is in fact, difficult to the extreme to levy charges against, let alone convict, a politician of his status, and it's been like pulling teeth to get to this point, but...

The stench is apparently so great that the customary burying of charges because such a lofty man cannot possibly be guilty of them, or that they are of absolutely no consequence when compared to great matters of state, just isn't holding up.

[MrPrax]

3. "complaints made by several women"

Becoming a familiar pattern...

"...A woman who reported a vicious attack by an ad-hoc "modesty patrol" on a Jerusalem bus last month is now lining up support for her case and may be included in a petition to the High Court of Justice over the legality of sex-segregated buses.

Miriam Shear says she was traveling to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City early on November 24 when a group of ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) men attacked her for refusing to move to the back of the Egged No. 2 bus. She is now in touch with several legal advocacy and women's organizations, and at the same time, waiting for the police to apprehend her attackers.

...

Throughout the encounter, Shear says the bus driver "did nothing." The other passengers, she says, blamed her for not moving to the back of the bus and called her a "stupid American with no sechel People blamed me for not knowing my place and not going to the back of the bus where I belong."

HAARETZ

They hate us for our freedoms... ;-)

[sabra]

4. I don't believe Katsav is a black hatter, there for his actions weren't

necessarily correlated to extreme religious beliefs.

[MrPrax]

6. Yeah...

only correlates to the shitty attitudes Israelis have towards women and their rights.

(damn...ran out of words to link to... ;-)

But yeah we shouldn't draw any conclusions about religious extremists, their inclusion in government coalitions and their pervasive influence and support in society. (Unless they're arabs of course)

Oh shit I forgot -- we are suppose to present Israel as a shining beacon of democratic liberalism favoured by potential western emigres and tourists.

[sabra]

8. "we are suppose to present Israel as a shining beacon of democratic liberalism"

If you notice the OP is a report of the AG planning on charging the president on rape charges. Shining beacon indeed...

[redqueen]

5. What the $&#@?

:grr:

[Scurrilous]

7. The Katsav Affair

A history of the affair, from Katsav's complaint of blackmail to Mazuz's decision to indict

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3356053,00.html

<snip>

"Moshe Katsav was elected president in a surprise upset over Shimon Peres in the summer of 2000. Some six years later, he surprised the nation again, this time with a sex scandal.

Ironically, the president brought the matter to the public's attention. He complained to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz that he was being blackmailed by A who, he said, was falsely accusing him of sexual wrongdoing.

Mazuz opened an investigation to determine the veracity of A's complaints. As the investigation progressed, more women came forward, claiming that Katsav had harassed them at various times throughout his public career.

Additionally, the investigation led to suspicions against the president of fraud, breach of trust, harassing a witness and obstruction of justice.

Although Katsav continued to refute all of the complaints, the tide of public opinion against the president grew."