Moshe Katsav

Monday, Apr. 04, 2011

    • "It is a lie! The girls know it is a lie!" shouted former President Moshe Katsav before bursting into tears in a Jerusalem courtroom. The highest-ranking Israeli official ever ordered to prison, Katsav was sentenced March 22 to seven years for raping a former employee twice when he was Tourism Minister in the late 1990s. Katsav's sentencing was the latest chapter in a saga that has captivated Israelis for a half decade. And while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Israel's justice system for its ability to hold even a former President culpable, Katsav maintained his innocence, claiming he had been convicted by the media and suggesting he was targeted because of his Sephardic roots. He will likely appeal.