A former Israeli justice minister said ex-President Moshe Katsav should be pardoned to spare Israelis the sight of a former head of state serving jail time for rape.
Yossi Beilin, a former justice minister who once led the dovish Meretz Party, said that Katsav’s public humiliation was enough of a punishment and would serve as a powerful deterrent to other officials. He said it was not in the public interest to see a former symbol of the state behind bars.
Katsav’s conviction last week has riveted the nation, with nearly unanimous scorn for the disgraced politician and wall-to-wall praise for the legal system that proved itself egalitarian by bringing him to justice.
“He obviously deserves a heavy punishment,” Beilin said. “But the question is whether we also deserve that punishment when the country is being portrayed all over the world as a country whose president is like this.” — ap