Israeli President Avoids Jail in Plea

By Isabel Kershner

President Moshe Katsav of Israel will plead guilty to committing indecent acts without consent, sexual harassment of two women and harassing a witness, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz announced on Thursday. But under the terms of a controversial plea bargain reached between Katsav’s lawyers and state prosecutors, rape charges that appeared in an earlier draft indictment will be dropped and Katsav will not go to jail.

Instead, the president will receive a suspended prison sentence and will pay compensation to two complainants, Mazuz said. One of the complainants had worked for Katsav when he was tourism minister in the late 1990s; the other worked in the president’s office from 2003 to 2004.

Katsav was in any case nearing the end of his seven-year term as president, a largely ceremonial post. Shimon Peres, the president- elect, will take office on July 15.

The deal reached with Katsav is the subject of a brewing legal and public debate. Moshe Negbi, the legal commentator of Israel Radio, said the attorney general’s statement had raised more questions than it answered. “If the acts of which the president is charged are so serious – and I think they are – how is the case being closed with a suspended prison sentence?” Negbi asked.

In March, an Israeli court sentenced former Justice Minister Haim Ramon to 120 days of community service for forcibly kissing a female soldier.

Negbi referred to another case of a prominent businessman, Ofer Glazer, who just came out of jail after serving four months of a six- month term for sexual harassment. “This is the difference between someone in power and other people,” Negbi said.

Katsav had until now maintained that he was the innocent victim of a witch hunt or conspiracy against him. His lawyers suggested that Katsav would now admit to crimes only to avoid a long and embarrassing trial.

One of Katsav’s attorneys, Avigdor Feldman, told Israel Radio that the president “will admit that he hugged” one complainant, “and that he touched her leg,” acts, he said, which did not constitute “a blatantly sexual situation.”

Another of Katsav’s attorneys, Zion Amir, added that there was also some “touching of hips, an attempt at a kiss, and a kiss.”

In all, 10 women had testified to police investigators against Katsav. The final indictment focused on four cases. In his statement, the attorney general said that in many cases there were problems of proof and evidence, not least because some of the events described by the complainants occurred up to nine years ago.

The attorney general added that the settlement with Katsav was in the public interest since it would reduce “the harm to the institution of the presidency.”

The attorney general said the whole affair had started almost a year ago, when Katsav invited him to his office and complained that one of his female employees was blackmailing him.

The police inquiry soon turned against Katsav as the employee, who can only be identified as A. by court order, raised accusations of sexual offenses.

Ironically, the attorney general said he was closing the case of A. without charges, and likewise, Katsav’s case against A., due to a lack of evidence.

At a televised press conference on Thursday afternoon, A., her face blurred to maintain her anonymity, criticized the plea bargain as giving sex offenders “a license to do whatever they want.”

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