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<span style="font-weight: bold">News Source: OTGNR - </span>
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : Former Israeli preside...ton Post )...</span>
Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav, second from right, arrives at the court in Tel Aviv, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010. An Israeli court has convicted former President Moshe Katsav on two counts of rape. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) (Oded Balilty - AP) JERUSALEM - An Israeli court on Thursday found former president Moshe Katsav guilty of rape, indecent assault and sexual harassment of female subordinates, the most serious conviction of a former top official in Israel's history. The verdict by a panel of judges at the Tel Aviv District Court - in a case that had riveted the Israeli public - was hailed as a powerful affirmation of the rule of law and the rights of women, and a sign of changing norms in a society that for decades condoned sexual advances by powerful men.The president, whose role is largely ceremonial in Israel, is supposed to serve as a unifying national symbol. Katsav, 66, served in the post from 2000 to 2007.A panel of judges convicted him of twice raping a senior aide in 1998, when he served as minister of tourism. The first rape occurred in his Tel Aviv office, and the second was two months later, in a hotel room in Jerusalem. Katsav was also convicted of sexually molesting the same aide on another occasion.The judges said the events were part of a pattern of sexual harassment that ended with the firing of the aide after she resisted Katsav's advances.Katsav was also convicted of suggestively hugging two female employees on several occasions and making sexual innuendos during his term as president.The judges rejected Katsav's alibis, saying his testimony, in which he denied the charges, was "riddled with lies."Rape carries a minimum prison term of four years and a maximum of 16 years in Israel. Katsav's attorneys said they would appeal the verdict."This is a sad day for the State of Israel," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in a statement after the verdict. "Today the court delivered two clear-cut messages: that everyone is equal before the law, and that every woman has exclusive rights to her body."Katsav, who had consistently maintained that he was the target of a media witch-hunt, hurried out of the courtroom and returned to his home in the town of Kiryat Malachi without comments to reporters.Women's rights advocates said that the verdict would encourage those who had been the target of sexual harassment or assault at home or in the workplace to complain to the police."The message sent by the court today to victims of exploitation by those in authority, is, 'don't be silent,' " said Ronit Amiel, one of the state prosecutors in the case.Moshe Negbi, a legal analyst for Israel Radio, said that the verdict could well have delivered "a mortal blow to the macho culture that turns women into an object of despicable sexual exploitation."http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...66627196713843
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : Former Israeli preside...ton Post )...</span>
Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav, second from right, arrives at the court in Tel Aviv, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010. An Israeli court has convicted former President Moshe Katsav on two counts of rape. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty) (Oded Balilty - AP) JERUSALEM - An Israeli court on Thursday found former president Moshe Katsav guilty of rape, indecent assault and sexual harassment of female subordinates, the most serious conviction of a former top official in Israel's history. The verdict by a panel of judges at the Tel Aviv District Court - in a case that had riveted the Israeli public - was hailed as a powerful affirmation of the rule of law and the rights of women, and a sign of changing norms in a society that for decades condoned sexual advances by powerful men.The president, whose role is largely ceremonial in Israel, is supposed to serve as a unifying national symbol. Katsav, 66, served in the post from 2000 to 2007.A panel of judges convicted him of twice raping a senior aide in 1998, when he served as minister of tourism. The first rape occurred in his Tel Aviv office, and the second was two months later, in a hotel room in Jerusalem. Katsav was also convicted of sexually molesting the same aide on another occasion.The judges said the events were part of a pattern of sexual harassment that ended with the firing of the aide after she resisted Katsav's advances.Katsav was also convicted of suggestively hugging two female employees on several occasions and making sexual innuendos during his term as president.The judges rejected Katsav's alibis, saying his testimony, in which he denied the charges, was "riddled with lies."Rape carries a minimum prison term of four years and a maximum of 16 years in Israel. Katsav's attorneys said they would appeal the verdict."This is a sad day for the State of Israel," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said in a statement after the verdict. "Today the court delivered two clear-cut messages: that everyone is equal before the law, and that every woman has exclusive rights to her body."Katsav, who had consistently maintained that he was the target of a media witch-hunt, hurried out of the courtroom and returned to his home in the town of Kiryat Malachi without comments to reporters.Women's rights advocates said that the verdict would encourage those who had been the target of sexual harassment or assault at home or in the workplace to complain to the police."The message sent by the court today to victims of exploitation by those in authority, is, 'don't be silent,' " said Ronit Amiel, one of the state prosecutors in the case.Moshe Negbi, a legal analyst for Israel Radio, said that the verdict could well have delivered "a mortal blow to the macho culture that turns women into an object of despicable sexual exploitation."http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...66627196713843