MKs praise Yinon Magal for resigning amid sexual harassment scandal

MKs from across the political spectrum lauded former Jewish Home MK Yinon Magal for his decision Monday to retire from his position amid allegations of sexual harassment or objectionable comments made to at least four different women.

Magal announced his resignation shortly after returning from a mini-vacation to Italy with his wife. A friend of his, Shimon Riklin, told Channel 10 that he helped him make the decision to step down.

“A situation evolved where what was going to happen became clear. The new claims [by more women] were not the deciding factor. Even before that we thought, among his personal friends, that the best thing to do was to say goodbye,” Riklin said.

Education Minister and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett called the move “the right thing to do.”

Though Magal has maintained what he did not was illegal, his colleague from Jewish Home, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, praised his “ethical claiming of responsibility.”

She tweeted that his resignation was “a commendable act not frequently seen in these parts.”

Zionist Union MK Merav Michaeli – a vocal champion of women’s rights – said she was “not at all happy about the circumstances but Yinon Magal did the right thing.” She added that she reserves “respect for the women who had the guts to push us one more step into a world without sexual aggression.”

The head of the Knesset’s Committee on promoting the Status of Women and Gender Equality, Joint List MK Aida Touma-Sliman, said the step taken by Magal was “essential and appropriate for the fight against sexual harassment in general and in the workplace in particular. There is no room in the house of elected representatives to those who objectify women and are dismissive of their status and honor. I am very hopeful this step will serve as an example to others who have not yet internalized the fact that this issue is a red line and shows a lack in morality not only toward women but toward people in general.”

Magal was a member of the committee when he served as a member of Knesset.

Last week, some media outlets criticized Magal’s alleged conduct but praised his rush to apologize in a Facebook post.

On Monday morning, just hours before the MK announced his resignation, a rare critical voice came from Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.

Ya’alon told the Hebrew-language website Ynet that “we need to wait and to complete checking [of the incidents], but as things seem, it looks like regrettably there is still a culture in Israel of treating women as objects and I object to this. I hope this behavior – sexual harassment – will pass from the world and that we will learn as a society to condemn acts of this type.”