Getting down to the brass tacks

If the perpetually scandal-ridden Israel Police was secretly relieved earlier this week when allegations of sexual harassment emerged against MK Yinon Magal rather than one of their officers, Thursday’s Hebrew papers bring the spotlight back to the cops with yet another high-ranking police official being investigated for sex crimes.

The Hebrew dailies also focus on an IDF recommendation that Israel arm the Palestinian Authority.

“It cannot be real that this is happening again,” a senior police source tells Yedioth Ahronoth. “After the long list of senior officers in the police who were forced to quit recently over accusations of sexual crimes, once again a police superintendent was questioned under caution yesterday and is suspected of sex crimes against a female policewoman,” it reports.

The latest sexual harassment allegations were not “created in a vacuum,” reports Haaretz.

“The complaint against the officer for sex crimes, includes two incidents of harassment against an officer in his department, and for trying to kiss her against her will. This is likely not the only claim that will emerge and be probed in the coming weeks in the investigation,” it reports. The daily makes much of the “sensitive” nature of the senior police officer’s position, without naming what that position is.

Under the headline “By morning, looking into Magal, by evening, investigating a superintendent,” Israel Hayom focuses more on the lawmaker than on the unnamed top cop.

It reports that the Israel Police are examining the reports of harassment, and will ask the three employees at the Walla news website who raised the allegations against their former boss if they wish to file a formal complaint and press charges.

“If someone who states that she’s been sexually harassed refuses to be a complainant, than the claims won’t serve as sufficient evidence in court,” a police source tells the paper.

In a column for the daily, Gideon Alon writes that under Knesset law, Magal — and Likud’s Oren Hazan, who mocked a disabled lawmaker earlier this week — can’t simply be fired.

“Since the two cases involving MKs Yinon Magal (Jewish Home) and Oren Hazan (Likud) exploded, there has been a public call to Knesset Speaker Yuli Edenstein and the heads of their parties to fire them from the Knesset — however, the law does not allow that. Under a Basic Law, the Knesset can only fire an MK who is convicted of a crime in which the court has set [a determination of] moral turpitude. At this stage, police haven’t even opened a criminal investigation against Magal, and MK Hazan’s hurtful behavior against MK Karin Elharar is an ethical rather than criminal issue.”

“There is the legal option of suspending an MK until the end of the legal proceedings, but here too, this step can only be taken after the MK in question has been convicted of at least one crime which the court says carries moral turpitude,” he writes.

Yedioth features a photo of Magal on Wednesday wearing a T-shirt reading “Wild Life.”

Meanwhile, the dailies also highlight the IDF recommendations, which include arming the PA, with Israel Hayom spotlighting political criticism of the suggestions.

“Discomfort and even displeasure. These are the difficult feelings experienced by politicians due to the senior Central Command officer’s remarks,” it reports.

“A senior political figure fumed last night and said the behavior of the senior officer is perplexing… in the Prime Minister’s Office they clarified last night ‘we won’t give weapons to the Palestinians.'”

Over in Haaretz, Amos Harel contends that the recommendations emphasize the gaping chasm between Israel’s military and political leaders.

“The army knows that these recommendations have no chance of being accepted in the current political climate. Nevertheless, the proposals, even if they relate to better days, indicate the wide gulf between those ministers who are demanding Operation Defensive Shield II in the West Bank and the commanders in the field, who wonder whether such an operation would be aimed at collecting knives from all the kitchens in Hebron and its environs.”

“Despite the limited international attention span and despite much greater horrors taking place throughout the Middle East, the Palestinians have succeeded in dictating a change in the Israeli agenda. Israel is trying to contain the violence but, in contrast to the analyses from the right, the political and military leadership do not believe that the ever-expanding terror by individuals can be overcome merely by acting more decisively.”