Police said set to close sexual harassment probe of senior MK
None of the women who accused Jewish Home’s Nissan Slomiansky of behaving inappropriately toward them was willing to testify
Police will soon close the investigation into sexual harassment allegations leveled against Jewish Home lawmaker Nissan Slomiansky, Channel 2 reported on Sunday.
According to the report, none of the women who complained that Slomiansky spoke or behaved inappropriately toward them while they worked alongside him in the Knesset is willing to testify to police or in court about the alleged incidents.
Claims against Slomiansky first drew media attention in December, after a Jewish Home activist went public with the allegations on Facebook. Chagit Moriah-Gibor, who said she knew several of the victims, posted a public appeal for other women to step forward, saying none of them was willing to lodge official complaints. Slomiansky’s name was initially banned from publication in the media.
Most of the women making the claims are religiously observant and maintain a strict no-contact rule with men other than their husbands. Among the testimonies were also claims of alleged indecent assault and exploitation by Slomiansky of his position of authority.
Many of the alleged acts were said to have been committed inside the Knesset, in Slomiansky’s private office or in committee rooms.
In December, a group of religious-Zionist rabbis and representatives of an organization that deals with sex crimes in the community reviewed the allegations against Slomiansky. They subsequently summoned him to a meeting and asked him to resign from the Knesset. The lawmaker denied the allegations and refused to comply, although later he admitted that he had touched women on the elbow and said his “well-known loving nature may have been misinterpreted,” Army Radio reported.
That month, Slomiansky announced he was temporarily recusing himself from his position as chairman of the influential Knesset Law, Justice and Constitution Committee, while a preliminary police probe into the complaints was underway.
The probe was upgraded to a full-blown police investigation in May on the order of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. Police reportedly spoke to over 20 women who had worked with him.
He returned to chair the Law Committee last month.
Reports in December said rumors of inappropriate behavior by Slomiansky surfaced before the last election in March 2015. In the weeks before the vote, the party chiefs were informed of the allegations by women who had worked with him in the past. However, senior party officials were unable to convince any of the women to file a complaint with police.
The Jewish Home party has previously faced allegations of sexual harassment by its lawmakers. In November 2015, Yinon Magal resigned from the Knesset over sexual harassment claims. In February 2016, the Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office announced it would halt the probe into Magal, after police said they did not have enough evidence to recommend an indictment.
The Times of Israel Community.