Israeli president taking leave of absence

JERUSALEM, Jan 24 (Reuters) Israel President Moshe Katsav announced in an emotional speech today that he would take a leave of absence and fight what he called venomous allegations that he raped and sexually assaulted female employees.

''McCarthyism is alive in Israel,'' Katsav said, describing the tactics of a disgraced U.S. senator who with scant evidence accused many Americans of being Communists or sympathisers in the 1950s.

''I will fight to my last breath,'' he said. ''I am not prepared to bow to blackmail.'' Katsav said he had notified parliament he was suspending himself from his largely ceremonial duties ahead of what would be an unprecedented criminal indictment of an Israeli head of state. Parliament Speaker Dalia Itzik would temporarily fill in.

He said he would resign only if formally indicted, despite mounting demands from legislators that he leave office immediately.

In a statement yesterday, Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz announced his intention to indict Katsav, 61, on suspicion he raped a former staff member and sexually assaulted three other women who worked for him.

''I will fight to clear my name,'' Katsav said on television, almost breaking into tears and pounding on a podium in a show of anger. ''I didn't carry out any of the actions attributed to me.'' The allegations against the Iranian-born Katsav, whose rise from the slums once served as a shining example for disadvantaged Jewish immigrants from the West Asia and North Africa, have stirred deep emotions in Israel, where the presidency is supposed to be a beacon of morality.

''Don't believe the smears and lies,'' Katsav said, blaming the Israeli media for jumping to judgment and accusing the women who brought complaints against him of seeking revenge because he either fired them or didn't accede to work-related demands.

With his wife and other family members sitting nearby, Katsav said: ''Even in these difficult days, I do not intend to bow my head and tarnish my honour.'' ''These are venomous allegations,'' he said. ''After the facts become clear, every citizen of Israel will understand the scope of injustice being carried out here.'' HEARING Mazuz said he would invite Katsav and his lawyers to a hearing, whose date has yet to be set, before finalising charges.

Under Israeli law, a president cannot be put on trial while in office but parliament has the power to impeach him. Katsav's term is due to end in July.

The case was unlikely to have a direct impact on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who himself is under investigation over alleged corruption.

Olmert has denied any misdeeds in the matters being probed -- suspected influence-peddling in the sale of his Jerusalem home in 2004 and an alleged attempt to give cronies a boost in bidding in a bank privatisation in 2005.

Parliament elected Katsav president in 2000 -- he beat Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres -- after Ezer Weizman resigned from the post following revelations he had received 0,000 in gifts from a French millionaire. Weizman died in 2005.

Peres, 83, is currently vice prime minister and has been mooted as a candidate to succeed Katsav.

REUTERS SI RK0004