Quotes of the Day

In the time it takes to utter two words — "suspended sentence" — Israel's Attorney General Menahem Mazuz went from being the country's most respected lawman to a reviled and misunderstood figure. For months, Mazuz, a workaholic of Old Testament rigor, had gathered testimony alleging that Israel's President Moshe Katsav was a serial sex offender. Now Mazuz is under fire for seeking a plea bargain for Israel's ceremonial head of state instead of attempting to prosecute him for allegedly committing rape. On June 30, 20,000 people gathered in a Tel Aviv square to demand the resignation of Mazuz, with the special fury that Israeli crowds reserve for fallen heroes.

A rabbi's son, Mazuz, 52, has long had a reputation for being a fearless and impartial enforcer of the law. It was an attitude that Israelis treasured, since they are convinced — not without reason — that the highest ranks of government are infested with sleaze and corruption. Mazuz won respect for indicting ex-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's son for corruption in 2005, and for urging the resignation of Israel's Justice Minister in 2006 for forcefully kissing a young female soldier. Mazuz has also been investigating Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for allegedly suspect property deals; Olmert strenuously denies the allegations. Finance Minister Avraham Hirchson resigned on July 1 in the face of Mazuz's looming charges that he allegedly embezzled funds from a charity that sent kids on study tours of Holocaust camps in Poland. Hirchson has vowed to fight the charges.

Mazuz reportedly kept the President's dossier locked away in a vault as it included potentially devastating testimony from at least 10 women who claimed that over the past 15 years, first as Transportation Minister, then as President, Katsav had sexually harassed and raped female underlings. Katsav denies the charges. On June 28, Mazuz dropped his bombshell. Instead of indicting the President on rape charges, the Attorney General cut a deal with him. Katsav is expected to resign and be indicted on lesser charges of sexual harassment and indecent behavior. And, to the outrage of many Israeli commentators and feminists, Mazuz recommended that Katsav serve no jail time. The Attorney General, according to aides, believed that the public disgrace of having to resign was punishment enough. Many Israelis disagreed. On TV and in newspapers, they demanded to know why Mazuz could force a Justice Minister to resign over a kiss while not holding the President to account for multiple accusations of sexual predation.

One alleged victim, known only as "A", has publicly voiced her wrath. After Mazuz announced the plea bargain, A told a press conference that the Attorney General had "cast her away like a grain of dust." The former presidential staffer detailed how Katsav allegedly advanced from making harassing phone calls — she claimed he demanded that she wear a skirt with no underwear to work — to locking her in the presidential office, pinning her against the desk and raping her. Katsav has denied A's allegations. Justice Ministry staffers were stunned by A's performance. "She said things in her press conference that she never told the police during many hours of questioning," complains one staffer, who says Mazuz settled for lesser charges against Katsav because of doubts about A's credibility as a witness. "It was a risk going to court, and we didn't want to damage the symbol of the presidency," says the source.

Yet in sparing the presidency a long and tawdry trial, Mazuz may end up damaging the Attorney General's office and his own reputation for rising above politics. In the Knesset, he is referred to, with both awe and fear, as "Super Manny." He avoids any show of favoritism; even his best friends don't know how he votes. Supporters and critics alike credit him with banning elected officials from doling out government jobs to party apparatchiks, a move that has reduced influence peddling. Friends say Mazuz, the son of poor but scholarly Tunisian immigrants, likens himself to a surgeon, cutting away corruption before it spreads into the body politic. He works relentlessly, immersing himself in the details of a case. "Mazuz has the lowest cell-phone bills in the Justice Ministry," jokes one aide. "He hardly makes any calls — and seldom takes them, no matter who it is." But critics say this attention to the grains of fact may have blinded him to the broader implications of the Katsav case, and the risk of a public backlash. His supporters disagree. Says Shlomo Cohen, head of the Israeli Bar Association, "Mazuz is honest, professional and courageous." Still, says Cohen, "I was disappointed that he agreed to a suspended sentence for Katsav."

After backtracking on Katsav, Mazuz will face tough scrutiny over the decision, due in the next few weeks, as to whether to indict the Prime Minister on charges of illegal property deals and conflict of interest. The prospect of scandal, along with Olmert's ill-conceived war in Lebanon last summer, have turned Israel against him. Polls give him a near-zero approval rating. Most Israelis are convinced that the current generation of political leaders lacks the idealism and honesty of the pioneering giants of the past. "Judging from their behavior, they have no shame," says former Justice Minister David Libai. Despite the public outcry over his handling of the Katsav case, Mazuz is still Israel's best bet for instilling a sense of shame — and fear — in dubious politicians.

• TIM MCGIRK
• Israel's Attorney General is famed for fearlessly targeting official corruption. But his handling of a presidential scandal has caused a storm