Senior Israeli journalist resigns amid wave of sexual misconduct claims

A leading Israeli journalist announced Thursday he would take a break from news-related work after facing a series of sexual misconduct accusations.

On Wednesday, the Haaretz daily reported allegations of assault and harassment from the 1980s and ’90s by five female journalists against Dan Margalit.

Hours later, another woman told Radio103 that Margalit had assaulted her in a car after giving her a ride home and the Walla news site reported the testimony of an unnamed “well-known media personality” who said he assaulted her in the 1980s.

On Thursday the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper published a piece by its reporter Orly Azoulay, who also accused Margalit of assaulting her in 1992.

“In light of the storm that has arisen, I have decided to remove myself from my journalistic activities,” Margalit wrote on Twitter.

Margalit said he informed Haaretz editor-in-chief Aluf Benn on Tuesday of his resignation from the paper, a day before the initial allegations were published.

Margalit, 80, was a senior writer for Haaretz in the past and in recent years has been writing op-ed columns for the paper. He has also hosted television shows and authored books, as well as worked for other print and online media outlets over the years.

All of the women told similar stories of incidents that allegedly took place during the 1980s and 1990s. Margalit, the women recalled, would choose moments when he was alone with them, back them up against a wall or a heavy object, and then forcibly press himself against them. On some occasions, Margalit also exposed himself, some of the women said.

The report included accusations by Hannah Kim, who is a former journalist for the Ha’ir paper, Hadashot TV news, and Haaretz itself.

Orit Shohat, another former Haaretz journalist, also told her story to the paper, along with three others who asked to not be named in the report.

Kim and another woman not named in the report passed a polygraph test at the request of Haaretz.

In a statement to Haaretz on Wednesday, Marglit denied all the accusations.

“There is no truth to the claims about incidents that were claimed to have happened more than 30 years ago. I don’t intend to dedicate the rest of my years in a pointless argument at this time and in the prevailing atmosphere,” he wrote.

In 2016, veteran writer Ari Shavit resigned from Haaretz following sexual assault accusations by a US Jewish journalist and another woman.

In November 2015, Yinon Magal resigned from the Knesset over claims of sexual assault when he headed the Walla news website. The Tel Aviv district attorney’s office announced the following February it had halted the probe into Magal after police said they had not found enough evidence to recommend an indictment.

Stuart Winer contributed to this report.