AG recommends President Katsav should face rape charges

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

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

Katsav will face charges over claims of four women, including the alleged rape of a former employee.

Mazuz's office issued a statement Tuesday saying that it had collected enough evidence to support an indictment against Katsav on charges of rape, harassment, sexual relations involving the abuse of power, obstruction of justice and illegally accepting gifts.

"The attorney-general, with the agreement of the state attorney, reached the conclusion that there is sufficient prima facie evidence to indict the president," the Justice Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

A final draft of the indictment will be presented after a hearing, where Katsav wil be able to present his case.

While serving as president, Katsav can be put on trial only if he is impeached by the Knesset. He has said he would suspend himself from office if indicted."

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

[Scurrilous]

1. MKs call on Katsav to resign in wake of indictment decision

<snip>

"Members of Knesset from across the political spectrum on Tuesday called on President Moshe Katsav to resign, following Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's decision to charge him with sexual crimes, including rape.

MK Ran Cohen (Meretz) said that Mazuz's decision to indictment "does not leave President Katsav with another moment of grace in his position. He must resign immediately, now that he has humiliated the institution of the presidency and the public."

MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz) also called on the president to resign immediately, to "put an end to the disgraceful spectacle of a suspect charged with such grave offenses continuing to stand at the head of the presidential institution."

The chairman of the Knesset State Control Committee, MK Zevulun Orlev, said the recommendation for indictment marked "a sad day for the state and its citizens, as well as for the institution of presidency."

Orlev said he hoped that even in such a difficult hour, the president would step down as his symbolic and official position required him to do."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/816939.html

[Englander]

2. Growing calls in Knesset for Katsav to step down

By Gideon Alon and Or Kashti, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service

Calls for President Moshe Katsav to resign immediately are increasing Wednesday, following Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's decision Tuesday to charge him with sexual crimes, including rape.

As of yet there still isn't a majority in the Knesset in favor of forcing the president to resign.

Should Katsav refuse to suspend himself and declare himself temporarily incapacitated, as he is expected to do, the chances of gaining the required support of 90 MKs to remove Katsav from office will increase, Knesset faction representatives said Tuesday.

Meretz Knesset faction whip Zahava Gal-On and Labor faction whip Yoram Marciano began collecting MKs' signatures Wednesday to support a request to the Knesset House Committee that it begin proceedings to remove Katsav from office.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/817296.html

Dalia Itzik poised to become first female Israeli president

By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent

Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik is now poised to become the first female president, albeit only acting, in Israel's history.

Itzik, 54, became Knesset speaker only eight months ago. Now, should Moshe Katsav suspend himself, she will replace him until he either resigns or returns; should he resign, she will replace him until a new president is elected.

>snip

Itzik, who was born in Jerusalem to a family of Iraqi origin, attended a teacher's college and worked as a teacher for many years. She also chaired the Teachers Union's Jerusalem branch. She then joined the Labor Party and ran for the Jerusalem City Council, eventually serving as deputy mayor under Teddy Kollek.

In 1992, she was elected to the Knesset, and in 1999 she become environment minister in Ehud Barak's government. She later served as industry minister in Ariel Sharon's first government and communications minister during his second term of office. At the end of 2005, she was one of three Labor MKs who quit the Likud party to join Kadima, and last year, she became the first woman ever to serve as Knesset speaker.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/817266.html

[oberliner]

3. Olmert calls for Katsav resignation

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called on President Moshe Katsav to resign, as charges of rape and abuse of power loomed Wednesday. Katsav asked parliament to temporarily remove him from office in an effort to blunt growing calls for his resignation.

"Under these circumstances, there is no doubt in my mind that the president cannot continue to fulfill his position and he must leave the president's residence," sai Olmert, himself under an unrelated criminal investigation.

At a stormy, emotional news conference at his official residence, Katsav blamed Israeli media for his plight, using terms like "witch hunt," "McCarthyism" and "persecution." He shouted at a local TV reporter, pounding on the podium and gesturing angrily during a rambling diatribe that lasted nearly an hour.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070124/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_president

[Scurrilous]

4. Knesset cmte: Hearings on ousting Katsav within two weeks

<snip>

"The Knesset House Committee said Tuesday that hearings on the dismissal of President Moshe Katsav will begin within two weeks.

During Tuesday's meeting, the panel also unanimously agreed the procedure to be followed. A detailed complaint drafted by 30 Knesset members calling for his ouster will be presented to Katsav on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Attorneys for the president will have until then to prepare their case.

The committee will be able to delay the start of the hearings if it receives a detailed request from the president or from one third of the Knesset members who signed the complaint.

The committee will also be authorized to summon Attorney General Menachem Mazuz or his representative to the hearings.

The hearings are estimated to last a month to six weeks, including debates in the Knesset plenum."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/819530.html

[Scurrilous]

5. Katsav draft indictment: Women tried to physically repel him

<snip>

"Details of the draft indictment against President Moshe Katsav, which have reached Haaretz, reveal that the two primary complainants both said they expressed verbal opposition to his alleged advances and tried to physically repel him.

The draft indictment prepared by the state prosecutor includes accounts from the two women, both know as "A," that bear many similarities when describing the alleged attacks by Katsav.

Both claim that Katsav approached them while they were in his office, with their backs to him. He allegedly pressed himself against them and started to stroke their stomachs and then their buttocks. According to both women, he then allegedly forcibly undressed them and assaulted them.

According to the charges announced by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz last week, Katsav will face rape charges only in the case of "A" who worked at the Tourism Ministry from 1998-1999.

Mazuz decided not to accept the police's recommendation that he indict the president for rape of the second "A," who worked at the President's Residence in 2003-2004.

Instead, Katsav will be charged with exploiting his status as her employer to have sex with her, as well as with indecent acts and sexual harassment."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/819542.html

[msmcghee]

6. Assuming any of this is true, this guy . .

. . is one sick fuck - pun fully intended.