Signs of the Times - Chain - Democracy in the Middle East

Signs of the Times for Mon, 16 Oct 2006

Israel police recommend president be charged with rape

by Ron Bousso
AFP
Sun Oct 15, 2006

JERUSALEM - Israeli police told the attorney general there was enough evidence to indict President Moshe Katsav on charges of rape, sexual harassment and wire-tapping, at the end of a weeks-long probe.

"There is sufficient evidence indicating that in several cases... the president carried out acts of rape, forced sexual acts, sexual acts without consent and sexual harassment," the police said in a statement.

"There is sufficient evidence indicating violation of the law banning wire-tapping by the president," police said following a meeting with investigators and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz in Jerusalem.

Criticism of Israel an 'act of solidarity'

Australian Jewish News
12/10/2006

FIERCE criticism of Israel is not antisemitic, but an "act of solidarity", a visiting Israeli academic said this week.

"Being against Israel is the best act of solidarity and compassion with the Jews that one can have," Tanya Reinhart, a professor of linguistics at Tel Aviv University, told a full house at the University of Sydney's Seymour Centre on Monday.

Professor Reinhart, who earned her doctorate in the United States under the stewardship of staunch Israel critic Noam Chomsky, was scathing in her criticism of Israel, accusing the Jewish State of "ethnic cleansing" and describing Gaza as an "open-air prison".

Professor Reinhart was speaking on "Open-air prisons: the Israeli occupation of Palestine" at a lecture jointly hosted by the University of Sydney and the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism.

Professor Reinhart, who was born and raised in Israel and writes for Yediot Achronot, said she was speaking as one who loves the country and its people.

But the author of The Roadmap to Nowhere issued a warning that Israel's current strategy would be its downfall.
"The system of prisons that Israel is building is also a prison for Israelis. This small state is making itself the enemy of the entire Arab world and now the Muslim world. A state with this strategy does not have a future, so the solution for the Palestinians is also the solution for Israel."

While some Jewish leaders decided not to give Professor Reinhart's views more oxygen, others slammed her comments.

B'nai B'rith's Anti-Defamation Commission said it "utterly condemns [her] outrageous and extreme comments regarding Israel ... Her comments should be condemned by every reasonable person as being counterproductive to achieving a realistic resolution to the conflict."

Professor Reinhart was in Australian to deliver the second annual Edward Said Memorial Lecture at the University of Adelaide last weekend, which was sponsored by the Australian Friends of Palestine Association.

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