- Title: ISRAEL: Israel minister set to quit in sexual misconduct case.
- Date: 20th August 2006
- Summary: (W3) JERUSALEM (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF OLMERT AND ISRAELI PRESIDENT MOSHE KATSAV CONVENING A JOINT NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 4th September 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA631X4LXP8B174HQ8U5KUNW3HC
- Story Text: Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon, facing indictment on allegations of sexual misconduct, resigned on Sunday (August 20), Israeli media reported.
The departure of Ramon, a key ally of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, could weaken the Israeli leader's hand as he tries to weather criticism over the handling of the recent Lebanon war with the Hizbollah.
Ramon has denied accusations by a former government employee that he forcibly kissed her.
Ramon asked for his parliamentary immunity to be lifted so that a trial can be conducted as soon as possible, his aide, Tzhai Moshe, said.
On Thursday (August 17), Israel's attorney general General Menachem Mazuz said he was set to issue an indictment against Ramon over the allegations. A Justice Ministry statement said the woman accused Ramon of "kissing her on the lips while inserting his tongue without her consent", and quoted the Attorney General saying the evidence indicated "a reasonable possibility for conviction".
Responding to the charge, Ramon said he was sure of his innocence and would prove it in court.
The woman said the kiss took place after she was photographed with Ramon as a going-away present, before she left her job as a government employee.
Israel's Channel 10 Television Senior Political Analyst Raviv Druker said that Ramon's resignation is another brick added to Olmert's weakening governmental wall.
"The fact he (Haim Ramon) has to resign, our justice minister is more relevant because he was serves unformally as the chief political operator for the prime minister (Ehud Olmert), and Olmert will lack these advises that he got from Haim Ramon who is a very experienced politician. And moreover it's one brick in a total big wall of general disappointment of the public from the government. When you have this general mood because of the war and the investigation regarding Olmert, (Defence Minister Amir) Peretz and now Ramon it's something that to put it mildly doesn't help the government to survive," he told Reuters Television in the coastal city of Tel Aviv.
But not only Ramon is struggling with public scandal. The president is locked in a sex scandal, the prime minister is haunted by a property deal and the country's top general is under fire for stock trading.
With a ceasefire in Israel's bitter battles with Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas in effect for nearly a week, Israeli media have turned the spotlight on the series of scandals.
"The fact that the war ended the way it ended with this gloomy feeling that we didn't win caused everyone to feel that the government is shaky. And the fact that there are so many investigations against some of the key players in Olmert's government including Olmert himself, for that reason it is more significant than if it was in just in regular days in Israel" Druker said.
No criminal charges have been filed in any of the cases. But suspicions of sleaze at the top have darkened the public mood in Israel, where many have begun to question their leaders' conduct of a costly month-long conflict in Lebanon.
A former employee at the official residence of President Moshe Katsav says he coerced her into having sex with him. Katsav has denied the woman's allegations, which police are investigating. The scandal is unlikely to have any significant political impact as Katsav's post is largely ceremonial.
Israel's top government watchdog has confirmed it is examining Prime Minister Ehud Olmert purchase of a Jerusalem apartment for $1.2 million in 2004. Israeli media has spoken of a sweetheart deal in which Olmert received a substantial discount on the purchase price in return for alleged favours to the contractor by his associates.
The State Comptroller's Office said it has not finished looking into the case. The Prime Minister's Office has reserved comment, pending an official approach on the matter by the comptroller.
Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, chief of staff of Israel's armed forces, acknowledged selling off his stock portfolio just hours after Hizbollah gunmen kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12 that triggered the Lebanon war.
While regulatory authorities have said he did nothing illegal, many Israelis are questioning why cutting his own losses was on Halutz's mind at a time when consultations were under way on readying Israel's military response.
The political scandals might not only affect the future of those under investigation, but also the future of the Israeli -Palestinian conflict.
Ramon is a close supporter of Olmert in the centrist Kadima party which he joined after leaving the centre-left Labour party before the March general election.
He is a prominent proponent of Olmert's proposal, in the absence of a Palestinian peace partner, to dismantle some Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and unilaterally impose a border.
Olmert has put the plan on hold to give priority to economic recovery efforts in northern Israel after a month-long war with Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas that ended when a U.N.-brokered ceasefire took effect on Monday (August 14).
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