Katzav still maintains his innocence, despite numerous police leaks to the press, reports of testimony by his alleged victims and the recommendation of police investigators for his indictment on various sexual offenses. The president insists he is a victim of a malicious plot devised against him and remains confident that, sooner or later, the truth will come to light and his innocence proven.
Katzav’s legal advisor, Attorney Amnon Shomron, blasted the Israeli media in an interview with Arutz-7 Hebrew Radio on Monday. “This is not the first time the Israeli media have behaved like unreliable charlatans,” he said, “all in their pursuit of competitive headlines.”
Shomron lamented the fact that before the media were even presented with any hard evidence, the responses of the president and his advisors were treated with derisiveness.
One example, Shomron said, was the circumstances surrounding one of the most severe accusations against the president, made by one of the female workers at his office. She was fired due to differences between her and a senior staffer, but returned to the president’s private office with her husband and child just one hour later with a letter complaining to him about the staffer’s behavior.
“It is hard to believe that someone who was [raped or sexually assaulted] would behave in such a manner [approaching the assailant for help in retaining her job –ed.],” Shomron said. “But the media chose to ignore such aspects of the case, treating them like bothersome mosquitos liable to destroy their narrative and accusations against the president.”
Shomron says that it is not necessarily animosity toward Katzav per se that is driving the media’s guilty verdict, but the tendency to take the side of the woman who claims she was attacked over the version of the male boss.
Regarding whether Katzav will heed Attorney General Menachem Mazuz’s call to consider suspending himself temporarily until the allegations against him are resolved, Shomron said that president does not plan on taking any action until actual charges are filed against him. “This is not like the case of [former Justice Minister] Chaim Ramon, where if he is found innocent, he can return to his position,” Shomron said. “If the president resigns, there will be no returning to the position as his term will end [in the coming months –ed.].”
Shomron says the most frustrating aspect of the case is the way Katzav has been treated, compared with the treatment accorded former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and current prime minister Ehud Olmert, who were investigated for multiple crimes by the police. He cited the statement by the attorney general to the effect that Katzav’s retention of his position would cast a cloud of intimidation over his investigation. “Is there anybody more powerful than the prime minister?" Shomron asked. "Who can cloud an investigation with intimidation more than he? Who is more powerful, the figurehead position of president - or the prime minister, who even threatened to fire Accountant-General [Yaron] Zelekha?"
The Attorney General's office is investigating whether threats to Zelekha by an associate of Ariel Sharon and his son, former MK Omri Sharon, constitute a criminal offense. So far the office says it does not have enough evidence to pursue charges against either prime minister, and the media have been careful to say that authorities are "investigating if there is reason to investigate" Olmert.