No rape charges to be pressed against Kiryat Malakhi mayor

The Attorney General’s Office announced on Wednesday it would not press charges against Kiryat Malakhi Mayor Motti Malka over allegations of multiple counts of rape.

Malka will stand trial on charges of sexual misconduct against two women, and one count of bribery, the prosecution said.

The attorney’s office cited in a statement “lack of a reasonable chance of conviction” as the reason it declined to follow through on the recommendations of the police to press criminal charges on the rape counts.

Malka, his deputy mayor and five others, including the mayor’s son, were arrested in May on charges of repeatedly raping a female subordinate over a lengthy period of time. Malka denied the charges against him, saying the sexual encounters were consensual.

All charges against the deputy and the other officials were also dropped Wednesday. The attorney’s office said further details of the case were not made public, due to considerations of the right to privacy of the involved parties.

Malka called a press conference later Wednesday, where he strongly criticized the conduct of the police. “They wanted to make me bleed, turn me into the lowest rapist in Israel,” Malka said. “The police did everything to convict me, whereas I maintained from the start that I was innocent.”