The Israeli Knesset (parliament) House Committee on Sunday
approved President Moshe Katsav's request to extend his suspension
until the end of his term, local daily Yedioth Ahronoth
reported.
The Knesset House Committee objects the fact that the president
did not resign, particularly after the attorney general announced
that there was cause for an indictment on serious offenses, the
report said.
"Under these circumstances, and once the president chose not to
resign but to declare that he was unable to perform his job, the
Knesset House Committee approves the announcement and declares that
the president is temporarily unable to perform his job, starting
from the current suspension period until the end of his term
according to the law," the committee was quoted as saying. Katsav
on Wednesday asked the Knesset House Committee to extend his
suspension period until further notice.
The Knesset approved Katsav's request for a three-month
suspension on Jan. 25, two days after Attorney General Menahem
Mazuz announced he intended to indict Katsav on charges of sexual
crimes.
Meanwhile, the police denied claims by Katsav's attorneys that
they had used illegal wiretaps in the sexual misconduct case
against the president.
Last Friday, one of Katsav's attorneys said that the president's
close aides had "convincing proof" that their telephones had been
wiretapped over the past few months, when the president was under
investigation by the police over his alleged crimes including
rape.
However, the State Attorney's Office told the High Court of
Justice in the name of police that no wiretaps had been
employed,"not with his family, not in his immediate environment,
not in his home, not in the president's office and not in any other
place connected to the president."
Katsav is facing potential indictment on charges of sexual
crimes involving four women, giving private gifts paid for out of
public funds, harassing a witness and obstructing justice. The
president has denied the allegations and vowed to fight for his
innocence.
Finance Minister resigns
Israeli Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson stepped down
temporarily Sunday to battle allegations of fraud and embezzlement
at a previous job.
The move was expected since Hirchson had been under
investigation for months and was under heavy pressure to quit, and
had no negative effect on financial markets.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will step in as acting
finance minister, a Finance Ministry spokesman said.
Hirchson issued a statement saying he had notified Olmert he was
stepping down immediately. His lawyer told reporters the suspension
would last three months to allow police conclusions to be
released.
Hirchson denied any wrongdoing. "Now I can devote all my
energies to the struggle to clear my name," he said.
Police opened an investigation into Hirchson in January and he
was questioned four times on suspicion of illegal money transfers
when he headed Nili, a non-profit body linked to the National
Workers' Organization.
"We're talking about embezzlement and suspicion that large sums
of money were transferred illegally," said National Police
spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
Police were set to brief Israeli Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz
on the investigation. Mazuz will then decide whether to press
charges.
Hirchson has been in the post for about a year and he has mainly
stuck to a status quo on free-market policies and reforms begun by
former Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2003.
Arab lawmaker quits
Israeli Arab lawmaker Azmi Bishara, under criminal investigation
in Israel, resigned from the Knesset Sunday at the Israeli Embassy
in Cairo and said he would stay abroad for a time because of a
"racist" climate.
Israeli Embassy spokesman Benny Sharoni confirmed that Bishara,
the subject of an Israeli police investigation into unspecified
criminal allegations, handed his resignation to Ambassador Shalom
Cohen at a meeting Sunday morning.
Bishara, who heads the anti-Zionist party Balad, has clashed
with Israel's justice system in the past by making solidarity trips
to Syria and Lebanon and invoking parliamentary immunity to evade
prosecution for visiting "enemy states".
"Exile is not an option. Return is definite but the matter will
take some time and arrangements. I want to set the rules of the
game," Bishara told the Arab news channel Al Jazeera.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily via
agencies?April 23, 2007)
