Harish mayor arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a number of women
Police suspect Yitzhak Keshet of assaulting several women, reportedly believe there may be more victims; other suspects also detained
Harish Mayor Yitzhak Keshet was arrested Monday morning on suspicion of sexual assault against a number of women.
Police initially did not name the suspect, or the municipality he leads, describing the location only as in the northern Sharon region. However, he was later named by Hebrew-language media.
Keshet is suspected of sexual assault against a number of women, some of whom served in positions subordinate to him. He is also suspected of obstruction of the investigation and of justice, as well as breach of trust.
The arrest was the result of a covert investigation that was launched a number of months ago by the Lahav 433 national crime unit.
Police said a number of other people were detained, without giving further details.
The mayor will be brought for a remand hearing later in the day at the Haifa Magistrate’s Court, police said.
Several complaints have been filed with police against him, the Ynet news outlet reported.
Investigators suspect there there are other potential victims who have not yet come forward.
The obstruction accusations stem from suspicions that the mayor used another city hall worker to try to silence the women who complained about him, Ynet said.
Though police did not give any further details about the case or the suspect, last month Channel 12 interviewed five women who claimed they were assaulted by Keshet.
The outlet republished those testimonies on Monday.
One woman, a municipal employee, said he invited her to his office where he gave her compliments “and said all kinds of things that he should not have said.”
The woman claimed the mayor “pulled me towards him and said that things are really difficult for him at home and he must have a hug, a warm touch. Then he started kissing and touching. So I pushed him away and said to him ‘I am married, this is not appropriate.'”
The woman said she tried to avoid the mayor though he again attempted to invite her into his room, but she made excuses to stay away.
Another time, she recalled, when she needed to stay alone with him due to work, the mayor showed her his private room, which was equipped with a bed.
The woman said the mayor undressed, and also removed her shirt. “Then he started to do all kinds of intimate and sexual things,” she said. “What was going through my head at that moment was that I wanted to get out of there, but I was frozen because I couldn’t understand that that was happening to me.”
She said the mayor made her lie down on the bed, then lay down on top of her and asked her to “perform a sex act,” which she apparently did, though she noted it was so disgusting to her that she later threw up.
Another woman, who gave her name and spoke on camera to Channel 12, said that a year and a half ago when she was 19 the mayor gave her a ride in his car and stroked her thigh, but when she spoke to his deputy about the matter, she was told it should wait until after elections. The woman said that at the time, she told her mother and family about the incident.
In the Channel 12 probe, a city worker told the outlet that the mayor sent him “to silence women he had harassed” by offering empathy for any difficulties they had, including financial, and then helping them out. The worker was later interviewed by the police.
A third woman also described an occasion when she was in his office and the mayor asked for a hug, then embraced her so tightly she could feel the stubble on his cheek.
“Then one of his hands moved to my chest, and the other hand was in the direction of my bottom. I got out of there and was shaken,” said the woman, who had gone to city hall to advance a project with the municipality that required the mayor’s approval.
Keshet’s attorney at the time said in a statement to Channel 12 that his client completely denied that he committed any offense.
“We have evidence that is enough to prove his claims, and we will reveal it to appropriate authorities, as needed,” the attorney said. “Interested political entities are using the ‘complainants’ in order to slander a mayor dedicated to his residents.”
The Times of Israel Community.