Jewish Home MK to step down as committee chair amid sexual harassment claims

Jewish Home MK Nissan Slomiansky, who has been accused of sexual harassment, suspended himself on Sunday from the chairmanship of the Knesset Law, Justice and Constitution Committee.

Slomiansky said in a statement that he had requested “not to run the meetings of the committee out of appreciation and respect for the position, the committee members and the public.”

Despite the announcement, a Jewish Home spokesperson told The Times of Israel that Slomiansky would still remain the official chair of the committee with United Torah Judaism MK Uri Maklev sitting in to lead meetings.

Slomiansky said he felt it appropriate for a fair investigation of the claims against him.

Police said Thursday they will launch a probe into allegations, amid increasing calls by Knesset members for him to resign.

Earlier Thursday, Slomiansky was named, after weeks of rumors spawned by a Facebook post alleging multiple complaints of sexual harassment by a Jewish Home MK. In his initial response, Slomiansky denied “ever assaulting women,” and said his “well-known loving nature may have been misinterpreted.”

However, writing Sunday, Slomiansky said he felt “great sorrow that any of my actions may have been interpreted differently from my intent and had I known so, I would have personally apologized.”

Among the women who will be asked to give police statements should the probe progress are Rebbetzin Yehudit Shila, the founder of Takana, an organization that handles sexual allegations against figures in the national-religious world, the current head of the organization Hagit Moria, and Army Radio reporter Hadas Shteif.

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein and a number of other lawmakers from both the coalition and opposition have called for Slomiansky to step down from the Knesset in order to “clarify” the sexual harassment claims against him.

Rumors of inappropriate behavior by Slomianky first surfaced before the last election in March 2015, according to Hebrew media reports. In the weeks before the vote, the party chiefs were reportedly informed of the allegations by women who had worked with the lawmaker in the past.

However, senior party officials were unable to convince any of the women to file a complaint with police.

This is not the first time a Jewish Home lawmaker has faced allegations of sexual harassment.

In November 2015, Yinon Magal resigned from the Knesset over sexual assault claims. In February, the Tel Aviv district attorney’s office announced it halted the probe into Magal after police said they had not found enough evidence to recommend an indictment.

Police had probed Magal on suspicion that he harassed female subordinates while working as a journalist before entering politics. During the investigation, police gathered testimony from women who had worked for Magal over the years, including when he was editor of the Walla news website.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.