MK loses Knesset whip post amid sexual harassment scandal
Jewish Home lawmaker Yinon Magal apologizes for ‘misconduct’ that was ‘unbecoming of a public figure,’ but won’t resign parliamentary seat
MK Yinon Magal resigned Tuesday night from his position as Jewish Home’s Knesset faction chairman, a role comparable to the party’s parliamentary whip, after a meeting with party chief Education Minister Naftali Bennett during which they discussed sexual harassment claims made against the lawmaker by former employees.
“I made a mistake in my past misconduct, which is even more unbecoming for the public official I am today,” Magal said in a statement Wednesday. “I apologize from the bottom of my heart to those who were hurt. I am determined to correct my behavior and also to repair things on the personal and family level.”
He added: “I have also notified [Bennett] that I will stop serving as chairman of the Jewish Home faction, and will act as a member of Knesset as I have until now, faithfully and on behalf of our voters. I hope the public will find it possible to grant me the opportunity to mend my ways and serve it faithfully,” he said.
Magal told Bennett that none of the accusations against him constituted criminal offenses, and that the things he said to female employees were said in a “different spirit” from how they were being presented, Channel 2 reported.
On Tuesday, police said they were looking into accusations that Magal sexually harassed former employees at the Walla online news organization, but denied reports that a special investigative unit has been established to probe claims.
Magal is facing allegations of sexual misconduct after two women came forward Tuesday claiming that he made advances toward them during and after the period they worked under him at Walla, where Magal was editor-in-chief.
In a Tuesday morning Facebook post, Walla reporter Racheli Rottner said Magal made lewd comments to her at his going-away party, shortly before he entered politics early this year. Hours later, Walla reporter Or Shukran went on Facebook to accuse Magal of “repeatedly stroking my behind, even after I asked him to stop.”
Rottner said Magal often suggested she wear “sexier” clothes during news reports, once telling her she should dress “like a librarian from a porn movie.” She said that at the time she took the comments lightly, putting them down to her close and friendly relationship with “mischievous Yinon,” but his behavior at the party changed that view.
“I didn’t see it coming when he sat down next to me at the party,” she wrote. According to Rottner, Magal sat close to her and whispered, “Tell me, did you feel the tension between us while we worked together? I’ve always felt a sexual tension between us. You didn’t notice?”
Rottner said that when she awkwardly laughed it off, Magal told her, “Now that I’m no longer your boss I can tell you this: whenever we worked together I was horny for you, looking at you and thinking about your tits and ass. And I would talk to other people about it a lot, how horny your tits and ass make me.”
Magal initially responded to the charges with his own post on the social media site, saying his comments were inappropriate, but that he expected friends to raise their concerns with him before resorting to “shaming” him in public.
The Times of Israel Community.