MK calls for settler leader accused of sexual assault to quit

MK Rachel Azaria (Yesh Atid) is calling for Gush Etzion Regional Council head Davidi Perl to resign, following an expose that found he sexually assaulted a woman and then paid to keep it quiet.

According to a Channel 10 report last week, Perl apparently reached an agreement with the Takana forum, which deals with complaints of wrongdoing within the religious community, to not seek re-election and pay his victim NIS 200,000 in damages, after the woman declined to take her complaint to the police.

Since the expose, Perl has come under some pressure to resign his post as head of the council, which covers a large settlement bloc southeast of Jerusalem.

“Now is the time to give full backing to this important forum,” Azaria writes on Facebook, speaking of Takana. “The head of the Gush Etzion Council is not keeping to his agreement that he came to with them. Now is the time for Davidi Perl to resign.”

It’s not clear what agreement she is referring to.

She also lashes out at community leaders for failing to deal with Perl.

“I ask, where is the Yesha settlers’ council? Where is the religious leadership? Why don’t we hear their voices? What are we teaching our children?”