Wednesday was a sad day, tragic in fact, for the state of Israel, as well as for Moshe Katsav and his family. But it was a shining beacon of light for the rule of law, as well as for the growing number of sexual assault victims, most of them women. Our sages say that one must not judge a man for words spoken in his sorrow. At the same time, they say a man's true nature is revealed in his anger. The disturbing, angry diatribe Moshe Katsav delivered before entering prison -- his second speech of this kind -- shows that Katsav has learned nothing and forgotten nothing. He will not let facts get in the way of his beliefs. Like any convicted criminal, Katsav has the right to continue insisting on his version of events, even though in doing so, his version becomes more and more pitiable from day to day. The testimony of his victims, along with weighty evidence presented in two separate trials, left no doubt in the minds of the six judges who presided over Katsav's case. They unanimously decided that Katsav had committed rape, sexual harassment and obstruction of justice. But none of this makes any difference to Katsav. Our Sages teach us not to throw a stone into a well we drink from. In other words, do not bite the hand that feeds you. For decades, Katsav suckled from the generous bounty of the state of Israel, as a mayor, Knesset member, minister and president. Now, that very same state, and no other, has prosecuted and convicted him. And the convicted rapist feels no compunction in comparing that state to his native Iran. The same man who repeatedly submitted odd requests to the court that other suspects would never have dreamed up, has no right to express blatant contempt for the court when its verdict displeases him. All the more so because throughout his trial, the court treated Katsav with excessive kindness. Unlike other sex crime suspects, and to a certain measure in contravention of the fundamental principle of equality before the law, Katsav, time after time, was given a surfeit of clemency by the court. That is what happened when a majority of the court decided not to annul the strange and anorexic plea bargain that the state prosecutor, with unprecedented generosity, offered Katsav. That is what happened when the court refrained from ordering his arrest until the end of his trial despite the severe nature of the sex crimes he had been accused of. That is what happened after he was convicted in a district court and sentenced to seven years in prison, but allowed to walk free until the end of his appeal. And that is what happened when he was given a month's extension to "acclimatize" to the new reality, a perk that other convicted criminals do not get.
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Katsav hasn't learned a thing
מערכת ישראל היום
מערכת "ישראל היום“ מפיקה ומעדכנת תכנים חדשותיים, מבזקים ופרשנויות לאורך כל שעות היממה. התוכן נערך בקפדנות, נבדק עובדתית ומוגש לציבור מתוך האמונה שהקוראים ראויים לעיתונות טובה יותר - אמינה, אובייקטיבית ועניינית.
