Last update - 00:00 25/09/2006
The president's last days in office
By Ze'ev Segal
Jewish folklore tells of a candidate for office who complained to the local rabbi that the whole town was whispering about his intimate relationship with a married woman, even though such a relationship had never existed. The rabbi responded, "That's all we need - for the things to be true as well. It's enough that they're whispering about it." The things that have been published about the president's alleged sexual crimes have long ago crossed the line from whispers, and they do not appear to be insignificant.
The president, for his part, claims the suspicions against him are false, and has said he will not rest until he shows that "a gang of criminals" are behind the falsehoods. The journalists did things that were "borderline criminal," and the complainants were coaxed to giving "invalid testimony." The president denied on Israel Radio that he had linked Benjamin Netanyahu to the affair, but Lior Katsav, the president's brother, said "elements in the Likud were behind the complaints."
The general public stands amazed in the face of the open campaign to clear the president, considering that the various complainants cannot identify themselves both because the law prohibits it and for fear of obstructing justice. The police have not officially released conclusions from the investigation, and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz announced that despite the special public interest in the matter he would not release an interim report on the status of the investigation, which has taken more than a reasonable amount of time.
Considering the attorney general's circumspection in the affair, one should note his statements that the case involves a number of complainants and sources, and therefore it seems "rather unlikely" that the statements are false. To this must be added statements, attributed to sources involved in the investigation, that "there is no choice but to issue an indictment against the president."
The president, like anyone else, has the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. He may maintain this right even if he is indicted. However, holding on to presumed innocence and holding on to the horns of the public altar are two different things. The president of the state must not only be devoid of wrong-doing but also of the suspicion of wrong-doing. In 1993, then-attorney general Yosef Harish understood this demand very well when he believed, unlike prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, that minister Aryeh Deri could not continue in office after he was indicted.
Only a High Court ruling by justice Meir Shamgar persuaded Rabin it was his obligation to fire Deri, and Deri decided to resign before he received the discharge letter. Justice Aharon Barak later applied this ruling in a similar case of a deputy minister accused of criminal activities, based on the argument that a person in a "leading" position should radiate "honesty and integrity," and moral authority. Rulings in similar contexts confirmed this ethical requirement in additional cases, even when the Knesset was silent on the matter. The ruling emphasized there may be special circumstances in which the very opening of a criminal file, and not only an indictment, requires a minister to step down.
What is true for a minister is true all the more so for the president, the symbol and figurehead of the state. When the issue is one of alleged sexual crimes, whether rape or consensual relations that take advantage of a position of power, the president should not wait for a decision on an indictment. If at the start of the investigation a reason to step down did not necessarily exist, now, considering what has been released abut this specific investigation, the president must announce he is at least temporarily incapable of performing his presidential duties. Those who argue that this impairs his right to be considered innocent until proven guilty are not distinguishing between this right and the virtue that the head of state, who has the authority to pardon criminals, must project.
These days should be the president's last days in his office. The president realized it would be unseemly for him to swear in the High Court president. He should apply this realization to the swearing-in of the deputy president and other justices and opening the Knesset session. It is unreasonable for the president to pardon criminals even if the High Court has not ruled he may not. It is improper now for the president to sign the laws of the State of Israel.
Without impairing his right to be considered innocent until proven guilty, the president would do well to announce to the Knesset House Committee before Yom Kippur his incapacity to fulfill his duties at this time. The attorney general for his part must make a decision now in the matter of the sexual crimes, without additional delay and without waiting for more complainants to be questioned. It has been more than three months and we are still living in the shadow of A. and S., and reports of others whose names or first initials are not known. The time has certainly come to know whether the president will be exonerated or indicted. The president also has the right to know.