Moshe Katsav

President of Israel

Musa Qasab 5 December 1945 Yazd, Imperial State of Iran

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1 August 2000 – 1 July 2007

Israeli politician; President of Israel (born 1945) Moshe Katsav (Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה קַצָּב ‎; born 5 December 1945) is an Israeli former politician  who was the eighth President of Israel from 2000 to 2007. He was also a leading Likud member of the Israeli Knesset and a minister in its cabinet. He was the second Mizrahi Jew to be elected to presidency (after Yitzhak Navon). The end of his presidency was marked by controversy, stemming from allegations of rape of one female subordinate and sexual harassment of others. Katsav resigned the presidency in 2007 as part of a plea bargain. Katsav later rejected the deal with prosecutors and vowed he would prove his innocence in court. In an unprecedented case, on 30 December 2010, Katsav was convicted of two counts of rape, obstruction of justice, and other charges. On 22 March 2011, in a landmark ruling, Katsav was sentenced to seven years in prison. Katsav appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court of Israel. On 10 November 2011, the Supreme Court affirmed Katsav's conviction and punishment. On 7 December 2011, Katsav arrived at Maasiyahu Prison in Ramla to begin serving his seven-year sentence. He was released from prison, under restrictive conditions, on 21 December 2016, having served five years of his sentence.