Israeli politicians today debated whether to grant temporary leave to embattled President Moshe Katsav, who called impending rape and other sexual assault charges the product of “poisonous, horrible lies”.

Ariel Sharon’s new party would sweep a March 28 election and crush the hard-line Likud Party he abandoned, allowing the Israeli prime minister to form a coalition with the dovish Labour Party, according to opinion polls published today.

Polls published today, a day after Ariel Sharon broke away from his hardline Likud party, showed him mustering enough support to return to the prime minister’s seat at the head of a moderate coalition.