Settlement council to mull ousting chair over sex-assault allegations
Davidi Perl, head of Gush Etzion Regional Council, denies claims, says hush money he paid his accuser not an admission of guilt
Raoul Wootliff is a former Times of Israel political correspondent and Daily Briefing podcast producer.
The Gush Etzion Regional Council was set to convene Wednesday to debate the future of its chair, Davidi Perl, after it emerged last week that he had agreed to pay compensation to a woman in return for her dropping complaints of sexual assault against him.
Perl, who faces calls for his resignation over the revelations, wrote a letter Tuesday night to the council members protesting his innocence and saying that he paid the woman hush money solely to protect his family and prevent the accusations from being made public.
“I did not do the things that the media is claiming I did. I have never attacked a woman. I have not harmed any women and I have not committed any sin,” he wrote, saying that the past few days have put unwarranted stress on his family.
Channel 10 television reported last week that Perl had agreed to pay hundreds of thousands of shekels to a 20-year-old Jerusalem woman who made a complaint against him with the Takana Forum, which specializes in dealing discreetly with sexual-abuse cases within the Modern Orthodox community. In return, the woman withdrew her complaint and Perl agreed to not run for council in any future elections.
Takana, which includes prominent rabbis and officials, tried unsuccessfully for months to persuade Perl to attend a hearing. Finally, one of the rabbis hired an attorney to represent the woman and two months ago managed to secure Perl’s consent for a negotiated settlement. In return for the payment — reported by the Modern Orthodox Srugim website to be NIS 200,000 ($53,000) — the accuser would retract her complaint and Perl would not run in future elections.
Yuval Cherlow, a leading moderate Religious Zionist rabbi, and one of the initial founders of Takana, told Israel Radio that if the reports — that Perl paid his accuser to keep quiet — are true, he cannot continue to lead the council. Cherlow stressed that he is not personally familiar with the details of the case, but noted that he would approach other members of the forum and urge them to give the woman full support.
According to Channel 10, the case began a year ago when the woman lodged a complaint with the Takana Forum. The forum questioned the woman in detail and reached the conclusion that her accusations were valid. Takana consulted with Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who advised the forum to deal with the matter as best it could, given that the alleged victim refused to file a police complaint out of fear of making her identity public.
The media exposure has put the Etzion Bloc community in a quandary, Channel 10 said, because so far the Takana Forum has maintained a policy of strict silence on any cases it deals with, refusing to even confirm if there is a case against Perl.
On Friday, Perl sent a similar letter to some members of the council in which he insisted that the money he paid was not an admission of guilt.
“Don’t see my willingness to pay as a form of assent,” Perl wrote. “Sometimes a person gives up the fight even if he is right, and so I did it out of a desire to protect my family.”
On Tuesday, residents of the Etzion Bloc started an online petition calling for the council to form a committee to investigate the allegations and whether Perl should be able to continue serving as the regional council head. As of Wednesday morning, the petition had garnered just over 60 signatories.
Stuart Winer contributed to this report.
