By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM–Moshe Katsav served for almost seven years as the president of the State of Israel. He resigned a short time before his term was up due to bad behaviour: the rape and related charges for which he was convicted some time ago and sentenced on Tuesday, March 22.. The sentence is also for seven years; with good behaviour he’ll come out after some four years and eight months.
Had he confessed and shown remorse, the sentence would probably have been considerably lighter. But he has continued to maintain his innocence. He even created something of a scene in the court room today. He has six weeks’ grace before having to go to jail while his lawyers prepare an appeal to the Supreme Court. It’ll take some time before that Court will hear it, which means that we haven’t yet heard the last of it.
The man who succeeded Katsav into the presidency (and whom Katsav narrowly defeated when he became president in 2000), Shimon Peres, as well as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has already hailed the verdict as proof of the Israeli justice system. Like experts who have spoken so far, they reiterated the obvious conclusion that the sentence demonstrates that every Israeli citizen is equal before the law.
The result is an apt contemporary reversal of the Purim story that tells of how King Ahasuerus dismissed Queen Vashti, Esther’s predecessor, from his court on the advice of his counselors who argued that if His Majesty will be lenient with his consort, it’ll encourage wives all over the realm to disobey their husbands. Today’s verdict tells powerful men in Israel that if they treat the women who work with them and for them or live with them in contemptible ways, they’ll end up in jail – just as the ex-president.
Vashti has become something of a feminist role model. So are the unnamed women who finally plucked up courage to complain about Katsav, the man who started harassing women when he was a government minister and continued to do so as president. Women see his sentence as a triumph that we all have reason to celebrate.
It’s inconceivable that something similar could have happened in any other country in the region. My recent column in the Toronto Star suggests that dictators in neighboring countries have a point when they blame the West, particularly Israel, for having encouraged the opposition that currently rages in their realms.
Through television and the internet, Muslim women have viewed with envy how comparatively well their counterparts are treated in Israel. This may have encouraged them to become active, as many did, in the demonstrations against their oppressive regimes. No doubt, the Katsav sentence will give them further encouragement. In the long run, it may turn out to be more effective than bombing Libya.
As members of free democracies, we celebrate Israeli justice. But as children of this our therapeutic age, let’s also spare a thought for Moshe Katsav and his family. Indeed he should be punished, but it’s impossible not to think of his actions as those of a man in need of treatment. He’s not likely to get it in prison.
In fact, fears have already been expressed that, despite his ostensible piety and adherence to Jewish observance, he may defy Jewish teachings by committing suicide in prison – unless, of course, President Peres will be magnanimous enough to grant him a pardon and thus allow him to end his days in deserved shame and obscurity.
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Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. He now divides his year between Canada and Israel. He may be contacted at dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com