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Go Home The One Way In Which Israel And Palestine Are Equal

THE SPINE FEBRUARY 14, 2010

The One Way In Which Israel And Palestine Are Equal

BY MARTIN PERETZ

Well, actually it's the governments of Israel and Palestine that are equal in this way. And it's in the propensity of high public officials to engage in sexual aggression against women.

In fact, Israel wins the prize on this count. Former president Moshe Katzav resigned from office in order to ward off (unsuccessfully, it appears) an eight-count indictment on serious charges. The trial is now in process. At least two senior ministers--no longer senior and no longer ministers--have also had similar charges pressed against them.

Wrongdoing does not often come to the top--especially if the wrongdoing is done by men at the top--in Palestinian society. But, in this instance, a former high intelligence official named Fahmi Shabaneh made the accusations against Rafiq Husseini, chief of staff to Mahmoud Abbas, the oh so weak president of the Palestinian Authority, and is now threatening to reveal other sexual secrets about other P.A. officials. The report is in the New York Times.

In "Palestine," people in the street and in higher places blamed Israel for concocting the charges. The Palestinian Authority, the Times discloses, has issued an arrest warrant for Shabaneh on charges of collaborating with the enemy. The Mossad can do anything.

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7 comments

MP got some of his facts mixed up. True, former President Moshe Katzav is being tried for sexual abuse and (I believe) rape. However the other ministers (a former finance minister and a former labor & welfare (I think) minister) are in the clink for financial no-nos. Former PM Ehud Olmert goes on trial next week for financial improprieties, possibly bribery, influence peddling & other such niceties. Former justice minister (and the ex- "great white hope" of Kadima) Hayim Ramon was convicted of French-kissing a female soldier who only wanted to kiss him. He was sentenced to 6 months public service, resigned from the gov't and after he served his sentence re-joined as a minister without portfolio. He has since resigned from active politics but is still a player in the Kadima party. Hershel Ginsburg Jerusalem / Efrata

- ginzy

February 15, 2010 at 8:04am

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Former justice minister (and the ex- "great white hope" of Kadima) Hayim Ramon was convicted of French-kissing a female soldier who only wanted to kiss him. ???? Maybe I am reading this wrong, but misinterpreting the intentions of a kiss is now a crime? Now if she just went up to peck him on the cheek and he grabbed her face and showed his tongue down her mouth, then that is assault and should be labeled as such.

- blackton

February 15, 2010 at 10:28am

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For the record I am no fan of Ramon (for many years now), so view my explanation not as a defense but rather a reporting of facts as I recall them (it was not something to which I paid close attention). On the one hand, it was a lot grayer what were her intentions. She clearly expected to kiss on the lips and apparently she gave him her phone number as well, although I am not sure it was before or after said smooch. Initially she had no intention of pressing charges & she finished her IDF service shortly thereafter & went off to Panama for her post-IDF trek. Some police and / or IDF solicitor-general investigators tracked her down there and persuaded her to press charges for the benefit of other female soldiers (my daughter is currently serving in the IDF & frankly I would have preferred her doing national service as my older daughter did; but she (younger daughter) is in a mission-critical non-combat unit so perhaps these sorts of shenanigans are avoided in a more serious setting. She's also getting married in 3.5 weeks to another soldier (combat, on temporary assignment to a non-combat job)). On the other hand, many in the legal establishment thought the prosecutor's office & the judge went overboard on this one, and think they were just trying to get Ramon out of the Justice Minister's position since he advocated certain reforms that didn't please them. But they didn't want to throw him in the clink or out of the Knesset because of his solidly left-wing ideology vis a vis the Palestinians. What got a lot of people annoyed was that this event took place just before the cabinet meeting which first dealt with Hezbollah kidnapping of the 2 Israeli reservists, which led to Lebanon2. hg

- ginzy

February 15, 2010 at 10:53am

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ginzy, thanks, and mazel tov on your daughters wedding.

- blackton

February 15, 2010 at 1:28pm

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Thank you blackie. hg

- ginzy

February 15, 2010 at 2:49pm

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There's nothing new about Marty getting his facts mixed up, ginzy. It's part of his DNA. Btw, congratulations, also, on your daughter's wedding. Her husband must be a lucky man.

- scrubby

February 16, 2010 at 8:56am

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Thank you scrubby. hg

- ginzy

February 16, 2010 at 5:34pm

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