Katzav asked Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik for permission to suspend himself until after the preliminary hearing to determine whether he will be charged on a variety of sexual misconduct and corruption charges.
A two-hour recess called by Knesset House Committee Chairwoman Ruhama Avraham of the Kadima party (pictured) to discuss the matter with faction heads ended abruptly one hour later, however, after failing to convince the members to reach a consensus.
Some of the committee members remained unmoved and insisted that the Knesset should initiate proceedings to have Katzav forcibly removed from office, but others were equally adamant that the president should be given a chance to defend himself rather than suffer a conviction in the media.
Knesset member Yitzhak Galantee (Gil Pensioners Party) argued in favor of Katzav's request, comparing the media campaign against the president to the Dreyfus trial, calling it "intolerable and inhumane."
Galantee said, "Katzav promised that if charges are pressed against him, he will submit his resignation immediately. What more do we want from him? That he should wrap the noose around his neck? His appearance was that of a man who has been hurt to the depths of his soul and who speaks from his heart, not that of a man who seeks a legal fig leaf to cover his private parts."
Galantee reminded the committee members of the serious charge that the president leveled at the police investigators: The president said that a female witness for the defense told him that the police threatened her, saying, "We will get into your underwear" to discourage her from testifying.
"Is this not obstruction of the investigation on the part of the police themselves?" he asked. Galantee said that the only logical conclusion is to accept the president's request for temporary suspension and enable him to have a preliminary hearing after which the attorney general will decide whether to press charges."
Knesset legal advisor Nurit Elstein, on the other hand, told the committee that the most appropriate action would be for the President to resign.
Nonetheless, a slim majority of the committee members agreed with arguments that legislators should not judge the President -- and that he should decide on his own to resign rather than be impeached.
Knesset Members led by Yoram Marciano (Labor) and Zahava Gal-On (Meretz) collected 30 signatures a day earlier on a petition demanding that the Knesset House Committee begin proceedings to remove President Moshe Katzav from office, based on Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's statement that he is considering putting Katzav on trial for rape and other charges.
Katzav, however, beat the MKs to the House Committee, and managed to file his own request for a temporary suspension first, thus pre-empting a committee vote on whether or not to impeach him.
Gal-On called Katzav's request to suspend himself "a slap in the face of the Knesset" and "a poor joke". She said that the crimes that he is being investigated for are so grave that he must be removed completely through impeachment.
MK Michael Eitan (Likud) said in the Knesset committee that the Attorney General has not yet made up his mind whether to press charges against the president. "Who are we, Knesset members who have not seen the evidence and testimonies, to begin impeachment proceedings out of hysteria, when no charges have been brought against the president?"
Eitan said that for such a scenario, in which there is a suspicion of crimes, where the accused president claims innocence, and in which the one person authorized to view the evidence that has mounted and decide if it is sufficient to press charges has not reached a conclusion, we have in the law the measure for temporary suspension.
Among those on the House Committee openly supporting the president's request for a temporary suspension were the three Shas party Knesset members, the three Kadima Knesset members, the two Pensioners Party MKs, MK Nadia Hilu of Labor, the representative of the Arab Democratic Party, the United Torah Judaism Knesset member, and the two Knesset members of Yisrael Beiteinu. Some Knesset members said that they had decided to support the President's request following his emotional speech Wednesday night.
Baruch Gordon contributed to this report.
A two-hour recess called by Knesset House Committee Chairwoman Ruhama Avraham of the Kadima party (pictured) to discuss the matter with faction heads ended abruptly one hour later, however, after failing to convince the members to reach a consensus.
Some of the committee members remained unmoved and insisted that the Knesset should initiate proceedings to have Katzav forcibly removed from office, but others were equally adamant that the president should be given a chance to defend himself rather than suffer a conviction in the media.
Knesset member Yitzhak Galantee (Gil Pensioners Party) argued in favor of Katzav's request, comparing the media campaign against the president to the Dreyfus trial, calling it "intolerable and inhumane."
Galantee said, "Katzav promised that if charges are pressed against him, he will submit his resignation immediately. What more do we want from him? That he should wrap the noose around his neck? His appearance was that of a man who has been hurt to the depths of his soul and who speaks from his heart, not that of a man who seeks a legal fig leaf to cover his private parts."
Galantee reminded the committee members of the serious charge that the president leveled at the police investigators: The president said that a female witness for the defense told him that the police threatened her, saying, "We will get into your underwear" to discourage her from testifying.
"Is this not obstruction of the investigation on the part of the police themselves?" he asked. Galantee said that the only logical conclusion is to accept the president's request for temporary suspension and enable him to have a preliminary hearing after which the attorney general will decide whether to press charges."
Knesset legal advisor Nurit Elstein, on the other hand, told the committee that the most appropriate action would be for the President to resign.
Nonetheless, a slim majority of the committee members agreed with arguments that legislators should not judge the President -- and that he should decide on his own to resign rather than be impeached.
Knesset Members led by Yoram Marciano (Labor) and Zahava Gal-On (Meretz) collected 30 signatures a day earlier on a petition demanding that the Knesset House Committee begin proceedings to remove President Moshe Katzav from office, based on Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's statement that he is considering putting Katzav on trial for rape and other charges.
Katzav, however, beat the MKs to the House Committee, and managed to file his own request for a temporary suspension first, thus pre-empting a committee vote on whether or not to impeach him.
Gal-On called Katzav's request to suspend himself "a slap in the face of the Knesset" and "a poor joke". She said that the crimes that he is being investigated for are so grave that he must be removed completely through impeachment.
MK Michael Eitan (Likud) said in the Knesset committee that the Attorney General has not yet made up his mind whether to press charges against the president. "Who are we, Knesset members who have not seen the evidence and testimonies, to begin impeachment proceedings out of hysteria, when no charges have been brought against the president?"
Eitan said that for such a scenario, in which there is a suspicion of crimes, where the accused president claims innocence, and in which the one person authorized to view the evidence that has mounted and decide if it is sufficient to press charges has not reached a conclusion, we have in the law the measure for temporary suspension.
Among those on the House Committee openly supporting the president's request for a temporary suspension were the three Shas party Knesset members, the three Kadima Knesset members, the two Pensioners Party MKs, MK Nadia Hilu of Labor, the representative of the Arab Democratic Party, the United Torah Judaism Knesset member, and the two Knesset members of Yisrael Beiteinu. Some Knesset members said that they had decided to support the President's request following his emotional speech Wednesday night.
Baruch Gordon contributed to this report.