Yair Lapid
Photo: Yoni Hamenachem
Nobody is above the law
Op-ed: Katsav ruling reminder of law’s might, will prevent thousands of future sexual assaults
Thousands of sexual harassment cases were averted Thursday in the courtroom of Judge George Kara. Thousands of men told themselves “hey, we have to start to show some caution. If this is what they did to the president, God knows what they’ll do to me.
And just for that, it was all worth it: The national shame, the disparaging headlines in the foreign press, and the sense that nothing and mostly no one is holy around here anymore. Because if they convicted the president, nobody will now feel immune – not the boss, not the commander, not the CEO, and not the chairman.
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A few weeks after the Katsav affair emerged, he summoned me for a meeting in order to share with me his side of the story. When we were left alone he moved his seat so it was very close to mine and embarked on an emotional monologue about being persecuted.
At the climax of this monologue, he suddenly broke into tears. I was paralyzed by embarrassment. Here I am, sitting at the presidential residence and right next to me Israel’s number one citizen is crying. What was I supposed to do?
I was saved from this embarrassment by the president’s wife, Gila Katsav, who entered the room wearing a light-colored suit and seemed unimpressed at the sight of her tearful husband. “No worries,” she told me cheerfully. “The truth shall come to light.
When I returned home, my wife asked me whether I believed him. “No, I didn’t,” I told her, “he’s lying. But just like all good liars, he apparently believes himself.”
The judges who presided over the trial apparently thought otherwise. “The accused,” they wrote in their verdict, “is manipulative, smart, sophisticated, and dominates his surroundings.”
In light of the fact they convicted him, they apparently did not intend to flatter him, but rather, to signal to all the people who think they’re smart and sophisticated that all their manipulations will be to no to avail. The women who enter their offices may seem weak to them, yet behind them stands the full might of the law.
The 29 pages of the verdict are not only the story of a serial sexual offender, but rather, the story of a serial disparager as well. He attacked those who appeared vulnerable to him, those who were subordinated to him, and was sure they would not dare complain.
His conduct towards them, just like his conduct during the unbelievable farce of rejecting the plea bargain, was that of a man who is certain he is above the law. On Thursday we were reminded that there is no such thing.
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