MKs urge AG to investigate interior minister for sexual harassment
Meretz MKs Zehava Galon, Michael Rozin and Tamar Zandberg are calling on Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to investigate Interior Minister Silvan Shalom for allegedly sexually harassing a female employee.
Several Meretz MKs on Wednesday morning called on Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to order police to summon Interior Minister Silvan Shalom for interrogation, in the light of claims that he sexually harassed a female employee subordinate to him.
"An elected official cannot simply maintain silence or make do with denials in the media and must give his account and response to the accusations before the police," wrote MKs Zehava Galon, Michal Rozin and Tamar Zandberg in their letter to the AG.
"A serious and worrying picture has emerged in the media of repeated sexual harassment, including physical coercion and sexual exploitation by figures of authority, over an extended period of time and with more than one victim," they wrote.
"According to the law, an investigation like this is mandatory even in the absence of a complaint, when there is a suspicion of an offense – especially when it comes to a government minister," the letter continued.
At the end of the letter, they noted: "The reality is that female victims of a crime are all too often exposed to accusations and public humiliation, to lies about them being spread and are blamed for events in which they were harmed. As such the authorities have an obligation to protect them even more."
On Wednesday evening Channel 10 news reported that another woman had come forward accusing Shalom of sexually harassing her. The woman, who worked with Shalom, claimed that in the past he tried forcefully kiss her and on another occasion put his hand up her skirt while they were sitting in the back seat of a car together. She is refusing to file a complaint with the police.
In May 2014 Weinstein announced he was closing the file against Shalom that involved a complaint from a female employee that worked under him, that he had sexually harassed her 15 years ago. The state prosecutor also agreed to the closing of the file.
Her complaint exceeded the statute of limitations, but officials at the National Fraud Investigation Unit received information suggesting that there were likely other women who may have been sexually harassed by Shalom.
Shalom's associates claimed that the new suspicion is in fact an old story that already been investigated and closed by the AG, the state and the police.
