Israeli president urged to stand down

Menachem Mazuz issued the advisory in response to a High Court petition filed by a private lawyer demanding that Katsav resign in light of a police statement that there was evidence he had raped and sexually molested several female employees.

Katsav, 60, has denied wrongdoing. Though his formal functions are largely that of a figurehead, the case has underscored widespread unhappiness in Israel with the national leadership following the inconclusive recent war in Lebanon.

The Justice Ministry quoted Mazuz as telling the High Court that the severity of the allegations against the president should prompt him to "consider suspending himself from duty by asking parliament to declare him temporarily incapacitated."