Senior legal official accused of sexual harassment – report

A senior official in the State Attorney’s Office is being investigated for suspicions that he sexual harassed several women subordinate to him and had a personal relationship with an employee under his charge, Channel 2 news reported Thursday.

The Civil Service Commission is looking into the suspicions after receiving information provided by a female attorney who also holds a senior and “sensitive” position in the State Attorney’s Office, the report said.

The attorney claimed the senior official would make sexually charged comments to female prosecutors that made the women feel uncomfortable.

She also said that the official carried on a relationship with one of the attorneys subordinate to him. Despite their relationship, the man was also involved in decisions regarding his romantic partner’s promotion and her terms of employment. Such an arrangement, even if it is consensual, could be illegal.

After looking into the matter, the commission will decide whether or not to file and indictment, the report said.

In May, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit found there is no evidence on which to press charges against a senior lawyer in the State Prosecutor’s Office who was suspected of sexual offenses against another attorney.

A secret police investigation into allegations that Jerusalem district deputy prosecutor for criminal cases Uri Korb had harassed a female attorney under his charge was previously shelved after the attorney refused to cooperate with investigators. But the case was reopened last December when new information reportedly came to light.

“In the end there was no evidence justifying investigating Korb as a suspect in a crime,” the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement at the time.