Last update - 00:00 16/10/2006
ANALYSIS: If Katsav wishes to retain his honor, he must quit
By Ze'ev Segal, Haaretz Correspondent
If President Moshe Katsav wished to save his presidency's honor, his own health and the public's faith in the institution of the presidency, he would leave the President's Residence this very morning. He would not proceed from there to the Knesset, but rather to his own home, and there announce his resignation from his post, without hiding behind the "presumption of innocence" to which he is entitled.
The joint statement issued on Sunday night by the Justice Ministry and the Israel Police upon completion of the investigation into the president's case is exceptional. This is not only because of the investigating team's conclusions, according to which the president committed serious crimes, headed by rape (which carries a maximum sentence of 16 years in prison) and other sex offenses that involved forced and nonconsensual indecent acts.
Rather, what is special about the statement is the fact that it was issued jointly by the investigative agency and the agency that decides whether or not to bring the accused to trial. Such a joint announcement is not without precedent, but it is extremely rare.
Ordinarily, even in sensitive matters, the police and the Justice Ministry issue separate statements. This cooperation between the authorities is explained by the fact that a senior team of prosecutors has been following the investigation from the start, and "is already engaged in examining and assessing the evidence."
Reading between the lines, one can conclude that the police summary was not unwelcome to the senior prosecutors who have been following the investigation. These include both the state prosecutor and the attorney general himself, and everything has been reviewed meticulously.
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz is the one who will ultimately make the decision on whether there is "a reasonable chance of conviction," which is the test for bringing an indictment. Mazuz has yet to decide on this paramount question, but it is hard to imagine that his opinion will differ radically from that of the police - even if he disagrees with their recommendation to indict on one particular charge among the many that were cited in the police summary of the investigation.
A delay of several weeks in the attorney general's decision, such as was hinted at in the announcement, seems strange on the face of it, considering the close cooperation between the State Prosecutor's Office and the police in steering the investigation and assessing the evidence that has been collected. In any event, as is now customary, the attorney general will not announce a decision to indict, if that is what he decides, but merely that he is "weighing" an indictment, pending the president's right to a hearing. If the president utilizes that right, and his lawyers only then receive the case material, it seems clear that a final decision would be made only after many months, once the material has been studied and the hearing itself held.
If the president does not resign today, he will not resign until the entire process has been completed. He will remain in his post, but will find himself at the head of an institution whose foundations he has destroyed. MK Avigdor Lieberman's bill to change the system of government, which was approved last night by the Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs, proposes, among other things, abolishing the presidency in its present format. The president's conduct proves that the presidency really does need to go.