MK Kara denies sexual harassment charges
Deputy minister questioned under advisement in sexual harassment case, denies all allegations against him
The sexual harassment complaint was filed by a woman who worked with Kara in the past. She claimed Kara made suggestive sexual advances towards her, and even touched her against her will. The woman further claimed that after she refused Kara's offers, she was "pushed aside."
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Kara maintains that the allegations are bogus, and that the woman made up her story after he passed her over for a promotion.
After nearly five hours of questioning by National Fraud Unit investigators, Kara was released. He was forbidden from contacting his accuser.
Police officials are now contemplating organizing a confrontation between the two.
The grievance was apparently filed two and a half years after the case. The complainant, who is part of the Civil Service, told Army Radio that she it took her time "to know that I can take on a public figure, a deputy minister.
'I felt alone'
"It really is a big deal… he's a deputy minister and I'm just a regular citizen whose rights have been trampled… I felt all alone, like the police could do nothing," she said.
The woman added that she was eventually approached by the Civil Service Commission and that they helped her "get up the nerve to talk. They said I shouldn’t be afraid.
"I'm not doing this for me, I'm doing it for all women… I felt like a marionette, like an object. Dehumanized. I'm doing this for all women who have the right to just say no," she said.
Kara vehemently denied the allegations, saying they were politically motivated: "I'm innocent. I'm as pure as the driven snow. Purer than anyone is the country. I can only assume that certain elements are driving people to file complaints against me to hurt me politically, because I stand by the prime minister in this tough time.
"Even since I was made a deputy minister, I have no female employees. I'm absolutory stunned by this, by how evil some people can be," he said.
Kara, 56, was first elected to the Knesset in 1999. He is a major (Res.) in the IDF, married and the father of five.
Omri Efraim and Aviad Glickman contributed to this report
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