Ex-Israeli Defense Minister Convicted

JERUSALEM —  Former Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai was convicted Wednesday of sexually assaulting and harassing two women, a verdict hailed by activists as a turning point for the treatment of Israeli women.

Mordechai, 56, emerged from the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court after hearing the verdict and told reporters that he is innocent. “I will take all legal action to prove my innocence,” said the highly decorated former general, who in 1999 ran for prime minister.

He cut his remarks short and sped away in a car when female demonstrators outside the courthouse began chanting, “You cannot be raped into silence” and other slogans.

Mordechai, the most senior Israeli official ever convicted on sexual charges, later announced that he is suspending his membership in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, pending an appeal. He could receive a maximum of 14 years in prison when he is sentenced next month.

“This conviction comes to tell men, ‘Gentlemen, the rules of the game have changed,’ ” said Zehava Galon, a leftist female member of the Knesset. “There is a new line now between that which is permitted and that which is not.”

It was a complaint made by Mordechai’s 23-year-old secretary to Galon last year that triggered a police investigation. At the time, Mordechai was transportation minister and one of the most popular officials in then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s government. He was the first Israeli Jew of Middle Eastern origin to have been a serious contender for prime minister.

Analysts predicted Wednesday that his political career is over.

“A suspended sentence is possible, but in any case, Mordechai’s public career ended today,” said Moshe Negbi, the legal affairs analyst for state-run Israel Radio.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, speaking to reporters in New York during an official visit, said that he thought the case was regrettable and hoped Mordechai would “continue his legal battle and prove his innocence.”

In its ruling, the court dismissed the charges brought by the secretary, saying her testimony had been inconsistent. But it convicted Mordechai on the charges brought by two women who came forward after the initial allegations were made public.

One woman, a former soldier who served with Mordechai, said he attacked her in his home in 1992 when he was the head of Israel’s northern command. A third woman said Mordechai attacked her in 1996, when he was defense minister and she went to his home after he offered to help her find a job.

As defense minister in the right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mordechai broke with Netanyahu over what he said was the premier’s failure to pursue peace with the Palestinians. He then ran against Netanyahu in 1999. It was Mordechai’s withdrawal from the three-way race that helped secure Barak’s victory.

Women’s rights activists have complained for years that sexual harassment in the military, where Mordechai spent most of his career, is rampant and pernicious. Israel is one of a handful of countries that make military service compulsory for both men and women.

“The great significance [of the verdict] is in the message to women who were sexually assaulted . . . [and] who dared to file a complaint even when the man concerned was in a high position of power,” said Tal Korman, national director of a network of nonprofit centers for sexual assault victims.

In its verdict in the nonjury trial, the court dismissed Mordechai’s argument that he was the victim of a political smear campaign.

“The defendant’s version wasn’t cohesive,” wrote the three-judge panel. “He claimed that it was all libel meant to destroy him politically but was unable to point his finger at the people behind this libel. We found no evidence to support his claim.”