Prosecutors appeal verdict, sentence of actor Moshe Ivgy in sexual assault cases

State prosecutors on Monday appealed the verdict and sentence of prominent actor Moshe Ivgy, accused of committing indecent acts and sexually harassing three women. Ivgy himself on Sunday filed an appeal against the verdict and sentence.

Ivgy was found guilty by the Haifa Magistrate’s Court in January of one count of indecent assault against one woman and acquitted in the other two cases. In July, he was sentenced to six months of community service and ordered to pay NIS 10,000 (approximately $2,900) to his victim.

Judge Ziv Refaeli told the court he was sparing Ivgy, 66, from a custodial sentence due to his age and previously clean record.

In February 2016, six women accused Ivgy of harassing them while they were working together on various films, TV shows and plays. The women told the Walla news site of private rehearsals in which Ivgy would force himself on them, often insisting on unnecessary rehearsing of intimate scenes, and kissing them against their will.

Prosecutors filed charges in 2018, saying they found sufficient evidence that Ivgy had exploited his status to commit indecent acts and sexually harass four women in 2012 and 2013, some of them at his workplace. He faced four counts of indecent acts and three of sexual harassment.

Ivgy, who denied any wrongdoing, announced that he was taking a break from acting for the duration of the probe.

In their appeal to the Haifa District Court Monday, prosecutors, who had requested a 15-month prison sentence for Ivgy, said the multiple separate complaints against the actor showed a pattern of behavior

Even while condemning the actor’s behavior and evasive testimony in the cases in which he was exonerated, the court ruled that they did not pass the threshold of crimes. Prosecutors argued that the court was wrong to examine each accusation separately, asserting that examining the entire body of evidence against Ivgy must lead to a far sterner approach.

“The evidence revealed to the court indicated a consistent approach and a demeaning and humiliating sexual attitude towards women by Ivgy, in both actions and words,” prosecutors argued.

They noted that the court had itself ruled that “Again and again the accused avoided a clear version [of events]… the accused’s testimony was evasive… and largely unreliable.”

In Ivgy’s appeal Sunday, his attorney said that new evidence had emerged in the case and argued that new testimony by certain witnesses may be relevant. Ivgy has denied guilt from the start and announced his intention to appeal once his verdict was given.

Ivgy has appeared in dozens of films, plays and television shows, including “Hunting Elephants” (2013) and Steven Spielberg’s “Munich,” and won an Ophir — Israel’s top film award — for his supporting role in “Metallic Blues” in 2004, the same year he was nominated for Best Actor for his role in the award-winning “Campfire.”