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Former Israeli president Moshe Katsav was found guilty on two counts of rape by a court in Tel Aviv on Thursday, DPA reported.
The verdict by the Tel Aviv District Court comes more than four years after several women - former employees of Katsav - first made the allegations against him.
Judge George Kara, who headed a panel of three judges, took more than an hour to read out the verdict.
Katsav, 65, was convicted of two counts of rape and one count of a forced indecent act.
The judges ruled that Katsav's version of events was dishonest and called the testimony of one of the women who had complained, identified only as A, "believable."
A had said that Katsav raped her twice in 1998 when he was tourism minister and she a subordinate. She testified that she was raped once in his Tel Aviv office and shortly afterwards in a Jerusalem hotel.
Witnesses said Katsav murmured "no" as the verdict was being read out.
Dozens of activists from women's rights groups demonstrated outside the court, holding up signs with slogans in support of victims of sexual harassment, including "You are not alone."
Former Israeli president Moshe Katsav convicted of rape (UPDATE)
Former Israeli president Moshe Katsav was found guilty on two counts of rape by a court in Tel Aviv on Thursday
