The Israeli police have found enough evidence to charge the President of Israel with rape. Isn't that lovely?
President Katsav is due to open the winter session of parliament on Monday, but a number of deputies have already threatened to walk out if he attends.The president denies claims that he forced two female employees to have sex with him, and all other allegations against him.
He has said he is the victim of a "public lynching without trial or investigation".
The police statement said: "There is sufficient evidence indicating that in several cases... the president carried out acts of rape, forced sexual acts, sexual acts without consent and sexual harassment."
He is also being accused of wiretaping (a whole other issue). Hmm so much corruption, where did these people learn about democracy, from the US? WTF?
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I don't know Israeli law that well. But here, anyway, the requirement for the police to charge/arrest someone (probable cause) is pretty low. It's not as high as the civil standard to win a case (51%) and it's nowhere near the criminal standard to win a case.
As a result, I'm hesitant of jumping on the "that evil rapist!" bandwagon too fast. I don't say this because I necessarily think he's innocent (lord knows plenty of powerful people have forced sex on others) but because politically-linked charges tend to be LESS reliable than "normal" criminal charges.
When Joh Doe gets charged with rape, it's because someone (who could usually care less about John Doe or his victim absent the charges) thinks he's guilty of rape. When a president of a country gets charged, that objectivity is often missing.
The political climate in Israel means that a lot of very powerful people on both sides are fighting to get their "version of the truth" out in public. I suspect that only an actual trial will let us know, in this case, which of the competing truths is accurate.
I heard someone on NPR Sunday say that Israeli office-holders are immune from prosecution (until they are no longer office-holders).
But the Israeli presidency is only a symbolic post. All Katsav actually does is bang the gavel to open sessions of parliament and go to state dinners. It's just ridiculous to see someone with no honor serving in an honorary post.
Actually, Samhita, your snark isn't that far off. Israelis often consider the US a model democracy, and in particular a model country with separation of church and state.
Josh, I'm not sure all Israeli office holders are immune from prosecution, though I do know all Members of Knesset are. But the Knesset can vote to remove a member's immunity; a few years ago, the populist leader of the largest fundamentalist party had his immunity removed because he was found guilty of bribery and corruption.
What do "these people" have to do with Katsav's alleged crimes? What does "their" understanding of US-style democracy have to do with the fact that Katsav may be a rapist? I don't understand why you're projecting one man's crimes onto Israel as a whole - what a strange way to end this post. "These people" are just as appalled as anyone else by his alleged behavior.
It's not just the sexual assault (which is endemic to Israeli politicians, especially those who were career officers in the military) - it's also the rampant corruption. At one point, the Prime Minister was being investigated by the police for corruption and exercised his right to remain silent.