The unanimous April 6 decision by an Israeli prison parole board to reject the early release request of Moshe Katzav, convicted rapist and former president of Israel, is a ray of sunshine in the gloom shrouding Israeli society. With racists like Knesset member Bezalel Smotrich of HaBayit HaYehudi leaving an indelible stain on the benches of the legislature, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu taking the trouble to comfort the parents of a soldier accused of murdering a wounded Palestinian attacker and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked lashing out at the Supreme Court for rejecting the government's natural gas plan, zero tolerance toward sex offenders is good news for Israeli advocates of human rights and feminism.
The parole board’s decision joins the ruling of the three district court judges who unanimously convicted the former president on Dec. 30, 2010, and the unanimous decision by the three Supreme Court justices who rejected his appeal about a year later. The members of the parole board made it abundantly clear that the extent of damage inflicted on the victims by Katzav's sexual offenses and the potential damage to them of his release supersede any display of mercy.
