The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lawmaker to Netanyahu: Oust U.S. envoy in scandal
JERUSALEM — An Israeli opposition lawmaker on Sunday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dismiss his ambassador to the United States for failing to report sexual assault allegations against a top Netanyahu aide, ballooning an already embarrassing scandal for the Israeli leader.
Karin Elharrar of the centrist Yesh Atid party said Ron Dermer should be recalled from Washington for not reporting the warnings he received about David Keyes, Netanyahu’s spokesman to foreign media. She also lashed out at Netanyahu himself for staying mum on an issue that has engulfed his close associates.
“His silence is thundering. I would expect from the prime minister a clear condemnation, if not at least a mention that the allegations were being looked into,” Elharrar told The Associated Press. “Who if not the prime minister should be an example on this matter? It’s time that this issue of sexual harassment be at the top of his agenda.”
Last week, Julia Salazar, a candidate for New York’s state Senate, accused Keyes of sexually assaulting her five years ago. Wall Street Journal reporter Shayndi Raice tweeted she too had a “terrible encounter” with Keyes before he became Netanyahu’s spokesman. She described him as a “predator” and someone who had “absolutely no conception of the word ‘no.’”
At least a dozen other women have since come forward with varying allegations, some of which are said to have been committed since Keyes took up his current position in early 2016. Keyes, 34, denies the allegations, saying all “are deeply misleading, and many of them are categorically false.” Keyes says he has taken a leave of absence amid the uproar to try to clear his name.
But the scandal has since spread to the rest of Netanyahu’s inner circle, which has previously been rocked with accusations of sexual improprieties. Natan Eshel, a former top aide, was forced to resign in 2012 after allegations emerged that he harassed and intimidated a woman in the prime minister’s office, including taking pictures up her skirt. Earlier this year, Netanyahu’s son Yair came under fire after a recording emerged of him joyriding at taxpayer expense to Tel Aviv strip clubs and making misogynistic comments about strippers, waitresses and other women.
Over the weekend, Dermer, who was perhaps Netanyahu’s closest associate before taking office in Washington, confirmed he was warned in late 2016 by New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, then of The Wall Street Journal, about Keyes’ aggressive behavior toward women. The New York Times reported that Stephens, who said he had barred Keyes from visiting the Wall Street Journal opinion section because of harassment complaints women there made against him, warned Dermer that “Keyes posed a risk to women in Israeli government offices.”
Dermer said he did not report this further since he did not consider the harassment allegations criminal.
But Elharrar noted in a formal letter to Netanyahu that Dermer was unqualified to judge this. Under Israeli law, sexual harassment is a crime, and public servants are required to report any knowledge of it. Dermer, as an Israeli ambassador, is subject to its laws even on American soil, Elharrar said, and therefore she demanded his dismissal since “it is unreasonable that someone holding such a prominent position would violate the law so blatantly.”
“I’m sure that if it were any other diplomatic or even gossipy issue he would have reported it further,” she told the AP.