Last update - 00:00 27/02/2007
Knesset committee to vote on Katsav impeachment next week
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent
The Knesset House Committee will vote next Wednesday, March 7 on whether to impeach President Moshe Katsav. The decision to postpone the vote, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday, was made by a six-member forum of the 25-member committee.
Jurists Dr. Suzie Navot and former chief public defender Prof. Kenneth Mann will attend the session. Impeachment requires the support of 19 of the committee's 25 members. Observers say the likelihood of obtaining the necessary majority is very low, since both Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu oppose impeachment.
MKs Limor Livnat (Likud) and Zahava Gal-On (Meretz) were behind the initiative to delay the vote, as well as being behind the impeachment demand signed by 38 MKs.
They say that it would be a badge of shame for the Knesset if the impeachment motion fails, because in that event, the legislature would be allowing a serial sex offender to continue as president of the state.
"This farce cannot continue," Gal-On added. "It's important for the public to know which elected officials are standing in the way of the president's impeachment."
The House Committee has met twice to discuss the impeachment. Last week Attorney General Menachem Mazuz announced that Katsav's hearing with him would take place on May 2. He pointed out that this entails extending the president's temporary incapacitation, which expires on April 23.
Katsav's attorney, Zion Amir, told Haaretz that he expects the president to ask the Knesset to extend his temporary incapacitation.