Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Ex-President’s Rape Conviction Is Upheld

Israel’s Supreme Court upheld the rape conviction of former President Moshe Katsav.

Thursday’s ruling confirmed the Tel Aviv District Court’s decision last December to convict Katsav on two counts of rape and other sexual offenses, and its sentence in March of seven years in prison. The three Supreme Court justices had heard the appeal over three days in August.

Katsav, 65, who has been free pending the appeal, was given one month to put his affairs in order and is set to enter prison on Dec. 7. He is the first Israeli president ever sentenced to prison.

Katsav was joined in court by his children and other family members, but his wife, Gila, did not attend the proceedings.

The Supreme Couirt justices noted that while they saw no reason to change the district court’s ruling, they believed that the sentence issued was harsh. They also acknowledged that the case was very hard on Katsav since it also was tried and decided in the media.

Nearly three years ago, Katsav had declined what was seen as a lenient plea bargain – one that dropped the rape charges for lesser charges and likely would have left him with a suspended sentence – saying that he wanted to clear his name in court. A yearlong trial was held mostly behind closed doors.

Katsav, who immigrated to Israel from Iran in 1951, was elected president by the Knesset in 2000 in an upset over Shimon Peres. Katsav resigned in the wake of the allegations shortly before the end of his term in 2007, and Peres became president.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.