This afternoon, the court announced its verdict for Haim Ramon, the ex-Justice Minister. He was found guilty of preforming an indecent act by (french) kissing a female soldier attached to the Prime Minister's Office. The entire country is in shock. The guilty verdict wasn't really expected. A matter-of-fact, the judgement (written decision) wrote that the accused's version wasn't at all acceptable or even logical. It was a stinging rebuke to Ramon and it may not allow him to launch a reasonable, or successful, appeal. Sentencing will occur at some later date. What seems clear is that this conviction, no matter what the actual sentence, signals the end of his political career (nevermind, any hope of returning to serving as Justice Minister or any other cabinet position).
After watching a number of news programs with their "talking heads", I'm left feeling confused about whether it was a good decision -- something to celebrate -- or, a real setback to the advance of women and the law.
On the one hand, the act was reprehensible and deserving of some kind of penalty/punishment. He certainly overstepped his authority and took advantage of a young woman (whether or not, as Ramon claimed she had consented to, or even encouraged, his advances).
On the other hand, I'm not sure of it was worth of being convicted of a criminal act. As Yael Dayan, a former Member of the Knesset and Chair of the Women's Status Committee where she was responsible for creating and advancing feminist legislation, said on one of the programs I watched, the act fell more into the area of harassment than criminal indecency. She also differentiated his situation from that of Moshe Katsav. In the former case [Ramon] his indictment didn't create an avalanche of additional complaints of harassment/indecency unlike what happened with Katsav. That suggests that it was an isolated (individual) act.
While I'm not sure Ramon's behavior with this woman was an isolated act, it also wasn't part of a serial behavior of sexually harassing women (which can't be said for Katsav).
What I do sense is, Ramon is being punished for the poor behavior of other, past, politicians -- including Yael Dayan's father Moshe -- who engaged in numerous affairs during their terms of office. It has become a case of bad timing. He was caught in a paradigm shift as the public mores have shifted towards greater sensitivities of women.
That in itself, is something to celebrate even at the cost of destroying the career of a beloved -- if the public expressions of support and shock by other public and political figures are to believed -- public official.
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