that is today's Israel: no named victim, no evidence, no crime - off to prison you go, you've pissed off the elites...

lawyer.

King David provided for every woman he seduced, raped, married, or took as a concubine and even provided for a divorced wife, Michael, the daughter of King Saul. To do otherwise would have been to deny the faith since not providing for one's own is denying the faith. The great problem here is that Moshe Katsav denied the faith in not providing for Aleph when she asked him to. Unless that is corrected and he pays her a settlement, going to prison is not the worst that will happen in his future: he will not enter God's Kingdom for denying the faith.

and he couldn't hear his staffer say, "No." Prescription medicines are toxic, I tell you. Ban Viagra, now!

by him now. If she leaves, she never loved him. I think she does love him and is strong enough to stand by her man. Males pee on the carpet and sometimes they poop there, too. If YHWH could forgive Moses and King David for murder, this should not be too hard for Gila to forgive, too. Hillary Clinton has forgiven worse in her man and has lived a long time after his public transgressions. Elizabeth Edwards was less forgiving and lost her battle with cancer which she might have been able to keep in remission if she had been more forgiving of the sins of her man. After Ronald Reagan's death, his wife Nancy confessed that is was the other women that was so hard to bear in her marriage. Ronald Reagan said that after fifty he was relieved when a woman turned down a proposition. It is the male nature to ask and that has led to many a downfall. More bitter than death is an adulterous woman, King Solomon said. It is the male who succumbs who destroys his eternal soul unless he repents and supports the female he stuck his pecker into for her lifetime. King David supported even the concubines who were not faithful to him, who had sex with his son. He supported them in a building that was like a prison they could not leave and he never had sex with them again.

Hello! he is a rapist! he didn't cheat his wife! How can you compare the other spouses of past Presidents that were cheated by their husbands to his wife! Rape, Rivka is violent not consensual sex, please if you cannot see a difference with cheating do not write!

What really went on there is known to the real court

the witness statements of the women who tried to blackmail him, instead of filing a complaint ? just asking...

Miriam, don't you find it strange that "alef" has waited several years before lodging her complaint ? A rape victim would (logically) complain immediately.

moron.The court found him guilty,period.This is not the first time his tried fooling around with other women,this time it took a brave women too stand up too Katsav.I would give him 20 years in prison.

that there were numerous women, five, six, maybe more, whose testimony was banned because of the statute of limitations. He has been a SERIAL RAPIST who used his positions of power to abet his criminal activity over many years. This, too, should be relevant in sentencing.

According to Rabbinic law 18 crimes are punished by death by stoning: Bestiality, Blasphemy, Criminal conversation, Cursing a parent, Enticing individuals to idolatry, idolatry, Instigating communities to idolatry, Necromancy, Pederasty, human sacrifice, Rebelling, against parents, Shabbath-breaking. Jewish stoning appears to have been accomplished by pushing the defendant from a high platform to a stone floor so that his fall would result in instantaneous death. In Islam there is harsh requirement on the proof of adultery (unequivocal penetration seen by 4 witnesses, recall confession after 3years, ..), and more importantly; fiddling virgin (man, woman) to be lashed, while married to be stoned. Stoning to death is not advocated by majority of Islamic scholars for the good reason that the stones shouldn't be larger than Hummus size. Anyone now will love to be president even if it involves Jewish stoning for he would be surrounded by such pretty female aids.

...few countries worldwide, liberal democracies included, are capable of bringing the highest people in office to trial for such despicable crimes. It is also worthy of note that the chief judge in this trial, Mr. George Qra, is an Arab and the two additional judges on the panel were women. This is of course a slap in the face to those questioning Israel's liberal democratic nature in which all are equal before the law: Arabs and Jews, men and women; and, all are eligible to elect and be elected as well as to serve as judges - including on Israel's Supreme Court - and judge people at the highest level in society and government. With all the sadness of this case, first and foremost to the women who have been attacked physically and emotionally and then demonized by both the guilty man, the series rapist, and many of those who surround him; this is also a day of celebration of the liberal democracy and the rule of law. It is a good day to be a Jew who is proud of his nation-state, Israel, and the people who, after nearly 2,000 years of lack of sovereignty, re-instituted Jewish sovereignty in the Jewish people's ancestral homeland.

You have embarked on offending me, which means you feel the weakness in your position. Here is the major problem : the verdict is not available for the general public. AND: unfortunately, there is no principle of "presumption of innocence". Under such circumstances ANYONE can be blamed for ANYTHING. As a scientist with two university degrees I believe in proofs and facts, not media-stirred emotions.

We all assume she is a brave woman standing up to him on the basis it was he who went to the media first, and he changed his story. And maybe also because most of us have seen the arrogance of top management in companies in Israel. But it is an "assumption". We have no evidence. What if it was the other scenario: that he gave her power, it went to her head, he tried to reduce her power, and she invented the charges, and he is an idiot who built his own grave? We have no evidence either way.

The price already paid by the victims is heavier than any price to be paid by the perpetrator. The price paid by the citizens and the State is also very heavy and in both cases will outlive the duration of punishment to meted out.

I do not care one iota if this "man" is punished by a stiff jail sentence or not. What is important is that he is erased from our recorded memory and history. All busts and portraits of this "man" must be removed. All documents signed by him as President must be removed from public view and archived where the public has no access. All benefits awarded to an ex President must be denied to him. He should be ostracized, although this is a matter for individual conscience. He should be removed from the list of ex Presidents in school curricula and all official publications, That is to say when the list is presented in an official capacity it should read from 1 to 9 excluding the number 8 and the name. This "man" should die an ignominious death, no State funeral and no burial in any cemetary reserved for important personages. All these would constitute the ultimate punishment. He has brought shame upon himself and his family but more so upon the whole Nation. We all must hang our heads low.

No Sir, it is not strange. Women are ashamed to admit to rape because it is a permanent "stain" upon them for the rest of their lives. People, and especially women are afraid of authority. With regard to this particular "man" it was common knowlege for years that he was a womanizer. This in itself is not a crime, not even a moral offence in my opinion, but it obviously lead him down the wrong path from indiscrimination to criminal behaviour. Nothing strange in the delayed decision of the victims and nothing strange in his well known pattern of behaviour. What to me is strange is that you, as a scientist , fail to understand this.

Sagi, you have made a statement so amazing that it is difficult to ignore it: "to admit a rape is a permanent stain". How can that be a stain to be a VICTIM ? If, G-d forbid, some drunk lowlife hits you with his fist and demands you give him your wallet - is it a stain on you ? Or if someone steals your credit card details and uses them to buy something - is it a stain on you ? Now: one and the same woman went to see Katzav two different times and was raped twice - correct ? Can you give a reasonable answer: why did she decide to go and see him for the second time ? She liked the first meeting a lot, or what ? That defies plain logic; you don't need to be a scientist to see it. No rape victim will _voluntarily_ go to see the rapist for the second time, unless she had a hidden agenda.

from YHWH's definition. For example, in California consensual sex between two co-workers in the same chain of command in the same organization is rape of the junior person. YHWH's definition is different from that. The woman must SCREAM which is not the case in this situation. If the woman SCREAMS and there is no one to save her, it is rape. If the woman does not SCREAM, it is not rape. It is adultery or fornication and both the male and female are stoned to death. I have read no testimony about this case that indicated any woman SCREAMED. Did I miss that detail?

Dear Jules: If was only one, you may have a doubt, but so many? terrible that he was in that positions and abuse women and even 18 years old girls....till you do not have a sentence, no judgment, but now he must pay in jail, like a common citizen. I was answering to Rivkha that, in my opinion was really giving him a free pass. Can you imagine if was your 18 years old girl in that position? anyway a shame he was our President

Dear Miriam, I am not questioning the fact of sexual relationship. I am questioning the "rape" formulation. Katzav (especially in his age) was not a bodybuilder, and the lady was not a kid. It's physically impossible to be a "rape" case. A "guilty" verdict must rely on scientific evidence; otherwise the lady's part of the story may be just a libel, with unknown motivation.

Bless G-d we do not live by Rabbinical law but by civil law. It's really scary what you say. But G-d I'm sure is more merciful than you.

I am a citizen of God's Kingdom. Rabbinical law is different from God's law since it includes manmade laws and manmade commandments of men. The Torah and Tanakh are God's law. Both Katsav and Aleph should have been stoned to death and in the Messiah's Kingdom on earth that follows the end of Gentile world rule and lasts a thousand years that is what will happen. Since people are not literally stoned to death for adultery anymore except for being hanged in Iran and having their heads chopped off in Saudi Arabia, the stoning is a lifelong depression instead of the joy of living God intended for those who are His to have. God is merciful and I am sure He is more merciful than I am as you say, but he is a jealous God and an avenger of His elect and he hates the wicked every day. Aleph will be judged by God for adultery since she did not scream to be rescued. Katsav will be judged more harshly for adultery since civil law does not consider the critical factor in rape: the woman screaming as a sign of her innocence. Aleph can be forgiven by God for adultery. It is one of the sins God can forgive to a repentant sinner. But she does not appear to be repentant at all. Katsav, however, must provide for Aleph for God to forgive him. If any provide not for their own they have denied the faith and are worse than an unbeliever.

Miriam, Rivkah was not born a Jewess. She has her own laws.

Do make up your mind. In one thread here you say "I am happy justice was served" & on this thread you say "we have no evidence"

As much as I am against Israeli policies as much as I admire there democracy. Regardless if he is guilty or not it is uncommon to have a president take a stand!!!!

He wrote the Torah on my heart which is what a Jew who is a Jew in one's heart has. There are Jews who say they are Jews who are not because the Torah is not written on their hearts. Which are you?