Gil Sheffer named as Netanyahu aide under house arrest

Gil Sheffer, a former bureau chief for Prime MInister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been named as the former senior official accused of sexually assaulting an artist.

On Wednesday night, Channel 2 reported Sheffer had been put under house arrest as police investigated the claim against him.

His name had been kept under gag order until now.

The accuser claimed she saw Sheffer at an event and he suggested giving her a lift back to the city where they both live. During the journey, he allegedly sat next to her on the back seat, plied her with alcohol, and touched her against her will, Channel 2 said.

The man allegedly took her to an apartment where there were other men, forced her to perform for them, and tried to kiss her against her will.

The case has been under police investigation for more than a month. On Tuesday, Sheffer was questioned under caution and ordered to house arrest for five days.

His lawyer, Gil Fridman, told Channel 2 that the claims were “baseless.”

In 2012, Sheffer was investigated by the attorney general over claims he had sexually assaulted another woman 15 years earlier. The case was dropped because the statute of limitations had passed though the woman wrote a letter to Netanyahu asking her not to continue his employment.

Sheffer left his post in 2013 to enter private life, and denied at the time it had anything to do with the accusations against him.

— with Times of Israel staff