Sweetheart deal contested

Popular opinion in Israel has gone strongly against the extremely favourable plea arrangement afforded to the country's now former President Moshe Katsav and has forced a judicial review of the terms. Mr. Katsav had pleaded guilty to a number of lesser charges and thereby avoided a trail on charges of rape however the deal also saw to it that he would do not hard time. Petitions from civil rights and women's groups that will be argued before the high court allege that agreement between Mr. Katsav and the state's prosecutors displays an "extreme absence of reason,...damage to the public interest ... and the damage to the principle of equality before the law."

As Americans we need to remember and make the same arguments once noises for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's pardon start bubbling to the surface again.