Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has called for President Moshe Katsav to resign over allegations of rape and sexual assault.
Citing the attorney-general's threat to indict Mr Katsav, Mr Olmert said: "I have no doubt in my heart the president cannot continue to carry out his duties and that he must leave the presidential residence."
Mr Katsav announced in an emotional speech yesterday 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," Mr Katsav said, describing the tactics of a disgraced US senator 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."
Mr 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 on Tuesday, Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz announced his intention to indict Mr Katsav (61) on suspicion he raped a former staff member and sexually assaulted three other women who worked for him.
