No mercy for the wicked

Incredibly, Moshe katzav, Israel’s eighth president, who was convicted -- yes convicted -- of two counts of rape and numerous sexual offenses, was released from jail on Wednesday after serving five years out of his seven-year jail sentence.

Oddly, the State Attorney's Office has decided not to appeal the decision and thus, the former president was immediately released from Maasiyahu Prison. This is an odd choice at a time when the public is overwhelmed with sexual harassment affairs, which have apparently pervaded every corner of Israeli society.

Most of these cases involved high-profile individuals such as decorated IDF officer Ofek Buchris, who admitted to prohibited sexual relations with a subordinate soldier in a plea bargain; the sickening case of Rabbi David Harrison, who was charged with repeatedly and violently raping one of his students at a religious girls' high school when she was just 14 years old; the sexual harassment allegations against Habayit Hayehudi MK Nissan Slomiansky; the sexual assault charges filed against real estate mogul Alon Kastiel, and the list goes on.

Each of the offenders comes from a different walk of life, but they seem unable to understand the meaning of the word "no," which every toddler can fathom.

Yet, for some reason, particularly in this atmosphere of sexual violence, the State Attorney's Office, as if completely detached from reality, decided not to appeal Katzav’s early release and let a manipulative man and a convicted rapist, who expressed no remorse for his actions, nor apologized to his victims, walk free.

Yes, his lawyers spoke on his behalf, saying he finally "understands the women’s feelings of hurt," and that he truly "regrets the sorrow he had caused them," but what kind of message Katzav’s early release conveys to victims of sexual assault who consider working up the courage to file an official police complaint?

The answer is that if you are a victim of sexual crime who decides to press charges against your assailant, you would face having your entire life scrutinized, while your already bruised body and soul would be torn to pieces repeatedly throughout the process. And you would suffer all that just to have a bunch of shrewd lawyers concoct a plea bargain that would see your assailant get a very short prison sentence, or none at all.

Instead, your attacker would agree to a plea bargain saying he committed some obscure offence such as "prohibited sexual conduct," and would move on to his next senior position.

Katzav’s release is a serious blow to women and the public’s faith in the justice system. The scars of the wounds he inflicted on his victims would be slow to heal, if at all.

Clearly, certain crimes may see their perpetrators eligible for early parole, but sex crimes in general, particularly those as grave as the ones Katzav was convicted of, must be treated as taboo, as beyond the physical injuries, victims of sexual assault have to cope with the lasting psychological and emotional effects for the rest of their lives.

Katzav showed no mercy to his victims and therefore he did not deserve the justice system's leniency.

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