Who would believe Katsav raped me? complainant says

A former assistant of President Moshe Katsav who claims he had raped her gave details of the alleged rape in an interview with the Sunday Times.

“I went into his office with a book I needed to put away,” she told the British paper. “He was sitting at his desk and there’s a big wall of books behind him. I was reaching up to put the book away when he came up behind me.”

“He was behind me in a kind of hug,” she continued. “It was like my hands were tied. He is not a big person but he is strong. I said: what are you doing?

“I don’t know why I said that. I was shocked. He said, ‘I want you. I want you to love me. Why don’t you love me? I want to have sex with you’. I think I said again: what are you doing?”

The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said Katsav pushed her onto the corner of his desk and forced her hips on to the table as she turned to face him.

“My hands were on the table and his hands were over mine on the table. I’m not weak. (But) I had this feeling I never felt before - you can’t do anything.

“Before I even understood, he opened his belt (she starts unbuckling hers to demonstrate) and he pulled up my skirt. I started saying: I’m leaving, I’m quitting. I was sure that he would stop.”

“Maybe I didn’t struggle enough,” she said. “I was shocked. I was thinking, what if people know, what if I don’t have a job. He penetrated me. One leg was out of my panties and I put it back in. And I pulled them up and I just went out of his office. I took my purse from my desk and I just went.”

'Don't tell anyone'

“I didn’t shout. But I did say no, strongly. I know I did. I said: don’t touch me.” After the alleged rape, which lasted a few minutes, the President warned her: “Don’t tell anyone.”

She went to a public garden nearby and sat for hours, she said, smoking one cigarette after another before taking a taxi home, the Times reported. “I was thinking, why me? What did I do wrong? Did I do something wrong? I saw my life ruined in just one moment.”

“I took a shower and went to bed,” she said. “I wanted to wash away his touch. He was all over me.”

The complainant said the rape greatly changed her life as she now socializes with good friends only and shies away from other company. “I don’t listen to music any more, I don’t go shopping. I’m not the same person,” she said.

President Katsav rejects the rape allegations made by this complainant as well as claims by two other former employees that he had sexually harassed them.

The Knesset granted Katsav temporary leave from office when Attorney General Menachem Mazuz announced that there is enough evidence to indict the President on charges of rape, illegal wiretappings and obstruction of justice.

Mazuz will make a final decision on the case after reviewing an appeal by Katsav.

“The president would call me on my private line,” she said. “He would stop by my desk and say, ‘You look pretty’, or ‘I like your skirt’.”

It was flattering to have the attention of such a powerful man, but matters soon became uncomfortable, wrote the Times. “He would stand too close or seek out my company too much. I thought, well, it’s only talk. What can I say? I didn’t want to lose my job. My father is not a Rothschild.”

The attorney-general is expected to make a final decision on indictments later this year after hearing an appeal from Katsav.

“I’m waiting for my day in court. This is my chance. I’m afraid a little bit, but I know I can tell what happened to me and no one can take that away from me. I was there and I know the truth,” the complainant added.

A spokesman for Katsav said in response to the interview, “The president will expose the public to facts that most of Israel’s residents are unaware of. Until then we will act to prevent brainwashing and the leaking of false information that is aimed at influencing Mazuz through illegal means.”

The Times said Katsav initially agreed to an interview but cancelled the last minute.