ISRAEL: President Moshe Katsav's sex scandal stirs public rage as tens of thousands demonstrate against a plea bargain in his case

Record ID: 395588

  • Title: ISRAEL: President Moshe Katsav's sex scandal stirs public rage as tens of thousands demonstrate against a plea bargain in his case
  • Date: 1st July 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) YULI TAMIR, ISRAELI MINISTER OF EDUCATION, ADDRESSING PROTESTERS, SAYING: "It's a deal that stains us all, we should not agree to let Katsav's stain sully our society"
  • Embargoed: 16th July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2Z4CDKU1S0E2LEQ30JGHR59DZ
  • Story Text: Tens of thousands of Israelis thronged a protest in Tel Aviv on Saturday (June 30) against the dropping of a rape charge against the nation's head of state who the attorney-general called a "serial sex offender."
    President Moshe Katsav has submitted his resignation after admitting to committing sex crimes against women employees, in a plea bargain that omitted an original charge of raping another woman who worked in his office.
    More than 20,000 protesters gathered in a main city square, some waving signs reading 'Rule of Law - Only For The Poor', and 'Plea Bargain - Indecent act'.
    "It is not conceivable that for over a year this country has believed that the president is guilty of terrible acts and now they all of a sudden disappeared into the mist? We demand some explanations, we demand some transparency," said Anna Gera, an organiser of the spontanic event.
    The case has brought unprecedented disgrace upon an Israeli head of state. Under the deal, Katsav admitted to committing indecent acts against one women and sexually harassing another woman employee.
    If the court approves of the bargain when charges are brought on Sunday (July 1), Katsav will also receive a suspended sentence instead of a jail term.
    "It's a deal that stains us all, we should not agree to let Katsav's stain sully our society," Israeli Minister of Education Yuli Tamir told the crowds of protesters in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square.
    The turnout was the highest in years for a women's rights protest in the Jewish state where women have complained for years that authorities do little to counter sexual harassment at work.
    Israel's Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz, who has been criticised for the deal, told Israel's Channel 2 television of Katsav: "We have encountered a president who it turns out has behaved for years as a series sex offender."
    Mazuz described the woman in question as a "victim" of a relationship that deviated from proper employer-employee contacts, but that conflicting evidence led him to decide against bringing a rape charge against Katsav.
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