ISRAEL: A day after police recommended he be indicted on rape charges, Israeli president Moshe Katsav yesterday bowed to strong pressure and decided to stay away from the opening ceremony of the winter session of parliament.
Mr Katsav's lawyer also said that if he is indicted - a decision by the attorney general is expected within weeks - he will resign. "If the attorney general, God forbid, decides to press charges, then the president will not stay a minute longer," said Zion Amir.
While the job of president in Israel is largely ceremonial, one of the main duties of the office is the opening of parliament, during which lawmakers stand as the president enters to the sound of trumpets. The president also makes a speech at the opening session.
But with a growing number of parliamentarians announcing they would boycott the opening session if Mr Katsav attended, or would refuse to stand when he entered the plenum, he was left with little choice but to cancel his appearance.
Some lawmakers tried to put a positive spin on the affair, saying the police recommendations were a sign that in Israel everyone was equal before the law - even the holder of the highest office in the country.
The police recommended on Sunday that Mr Katsav be charged with rape and aggravated sexual assault, as well as obstruction of justice and wiretapping (of workers in the presidential bureau). If he is indicted, these would be the most severe charges ever brought against an Israeli leader.
Legal observers were almost unanimous yesterday in their view that Mr Katsav would ultimately be charged. The Channel 10 news station reported that attorney general Menachem Mazuz had been a party to the police announcement.
The case against Mr Katsav is based on complaints filed by five women. The rape allegations pertain to two women, one of whom worked in the president's office, while the second worked for Mr Katsav when he was minister of tourism.
Police believe that in the cases of three other women who filed complaints, there is sufficient evidence to charge Mr Katsav with aggravated sexual assault and sexual harassment.
The affair erupted in July, after Mr Katsav told the attorney general about a conversation with a former female employee in the president's office whom he thought might be trying to blackmail him. Several days later, Mr Mazuz ordered the police to investigate and the president soon found himself the target of an investigation as more and more women came forward with allegations.
Since the affair began, and throughout his interrogation by police over the last month the president has insisted he is the victim of an elaborate set-up. "We have no doubt of his innocence," said Lior Katsav, his brother. "We know he is being framed and he is being blamed for things that did not happen."
Leading commentators yesterday called on the president to resign. "In the course of the last few months, Mr Katsav has lost the last vestiges of his respect," wrote Nahum Barnea, a leading commentator in Israel's biggest daily, Yediot Ahronoth. "For six years, Moshe Katsav served the presidency and the presidency served him. There is no choice but to say farewell."
Mr Katsav, who was born in Iran, is married with five children. His wife has supported him throughout, insisting he will be proved innocent.
It was a sign however of his dire position that commentators were already beginning yesterday to discuss who might succeed him.