What was in the original Katzav tapes
The Katzav story began with the then-President claiming to the Attorney General that he was being blackmailed by tapes that were held by a woman known as "Alef from the President's residence." In the end, Alef was not part of the criminal case. But the tapes were played on Israel's Channel 2 on Sunday night. In the tapes, "Aleph" requests $200,000 from Katsav to help "rehabilitate" her life. "You need to think of it as a gift to a woman you really hurt," she said.Judge for yourselves.
"I'm having a crisis," "Aleph" said. "Even two million dollars won't help me. I need psychological help. I can't function like a regular person anymore...I'm going crazy...My life is over, it's collapsed. You have a life. I will never have a life."
"Where do you think I can get $200,000 from?" Katsav asked. "Aleph" responded that she had heard from friends that the then-president had resources outside of Israel.
She added: "I can't promise you won't have to worry about the tapes. I won't play them. No one knows...I will destroy everything I have," "Aleph" said, in reference to recordings.
Channel 2 also released a tape in which "Bet," a friend of "Aleph," attempted to convince Katsav to help his alleged victim.
"You're lying, you're an actor," "Bet" said.
"Listen, I'm not an actor, you're an actor," Katsav responded. "There was nothing between us."
"What about the picture I found of her in your desk, where she's half naked?"
"What half naked? It was a picture from Purim!"
"Purim? With her whole chest out?" "Bet" asked.
"What are you talking about?" was Katsav's response.
Labels: Moshe Katzav, sexual assault, sexual harassment
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:31 AM
2 Comments:
Something isn't right about all this. Katzav went to the police himself because Aleph called him on the phone asking for money (blackmail). She doesn't say she was raped. She says she was hurt (but doesn't say how - emotionally or what?)
So Tel Aviv prosecutors get their hands on a right-leaning religious Jewish politician who isn't Ashkenazi and they're ready to throw him into prison for the rest of his life.
The prosecutors say that his story wasn't consistent but we can't see any of what went on in the trial so how do we know they're right?
Something seems wrong to me.
If he's guilty of rape, then so be it and he should pay the penalty for it. It doesn't seem logical to me that he would go to the police to complain if someone was asking him for money as the result of a rape.
If he's guilty of sexual harassment, then he shouldn't be punished more than Haim Ramon was punished (which was nothing, pretty much, and he was a Vice Premier shortly thereafter).
Something is wrong here, IMO.
"Judge for yourselves."
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From Katsav's point of view, this tape is at best a mild defense; at worst inconclusive.
From Aleph's POV, this is an implicite attempt at blackmail.
What's going on here? Perhaps Attorney Sheftel is correct.
And the biggest problem is that the reputation of Israel's law enforcement and judicial systems has been in the gutter for years.
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