Opposition lawmaker files request for emergency Knesset hearing on Keyes affair

Zionist Union lawmaker Ksenia Svetlova has filed a request to convene an emergency session of the Knesset’s Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality in light of the sexual harassment accusations made against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson David Keyes.

Svetlova has also called on Israel’s Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer to be summoned for questioning at this session following the revelation that the envoy had been alerted to Keyes’s conduct and chose not to report it.

Yesterday, the Civil Service Commission started looking into accusations against Keyes, who last week went on leave amid a flurry of allegations of sexual misconduct.

The commission’s Department of Discipline is also investigating the role of Dermer, who on Friday acknowledged that he was warned about Keyes’s alleged actions but failed to alert the relevant authorities.