First testimony given in sexual harassment probe into Jewish Home MK

A former co-worker of Jewish Home MK Yinon Magal testified Thursday against the politician, who has been accused of harassment by at least three employees who worked under him at the Walla news website.

Magal served as Walla’s editor-in-chief before stepping down in late 2014 to run for the Knesset.

Police said Wednesday that it was launching an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct after two women claimed that Magal made advances toward them during and after the period his time at Walla. Senior police officials said they believed Magal would be questioned in the coming days, Israel’s Ynet news site reported.

In a Tuesday morning Facebook post, Walla reporter Racheli Rottner said Magal made lewd comments to her at his goodbye party, shortly before he entered politics. Hours later, Walla reporter Or Shukran went on Facebook to accuse Magal of “repeatedly stroking my behind, even after I asked him to stop,” an act that could be considered sexual assault.

The probe into the allegations was launched by the police’s high-level task force, Lahav 433, police said in a statement.

A source told Ynet that Magal will be questioned under caution if the police receive formal complaints against him. In the absence of formal accusations, investigators determine whether there a case can be built based on any testimonies they collect before submitting a request to question Magal to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.

As a serving Knesset member, Magal enjoys immunity from “searches, detention, criminal hearings and legal proceedings that are not connected to his work as a member of Knesset,” and only the parliament can lift an MK’s immunity. A lawmaker can also choose to forgo his or her immunity.

Magal initially responded to the charges with his own Facebook post, saying that he had made inappropriate comments, but would have expected friends to raise their concerns with him rather than “shaming” him in public. He later acknowledged “misconduct.”

He resigned Tuesday night from his position as Jewish Home’s Knesset faction chairman, a role comparable to the party’s parliamentary whip, after a meeting with his party chief, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, to discuss the claims.

“I made a mistake in my past conduct, which is even more unbecoming for the public official I am today,” Magal said in a statement Wednesday. “I apologize from the bottom of my heart to those who were hurt. I am determined to correct my behavior and also to repair things on the personal and family level.”

Magal told Bennett that none of the accusations against him constituted criminal offenses, and that the things he said to female employees were said in a “different spirit” from they way in which they were being represented.

Stuart Winer and Adiv Sterman contributed to this report.