Shavit taking ‘time out’ from journalism, amid allegations of sexual assault

Leading Israeli journalist and author Ari Shavit is taking a “time out” from journalism, his newspaper Haaretz announced late Friday, following allegations of sexual assault against him by American Jewish journalist Danielle Berrin.

“Today he informed us that, in light of recent publications, he has decided to take a time out from his journalistic work,” Haaretz’s English-language editor Noa Landau tweeted on behalf of the paper.

Noting that Shavit “is a senior journalist with many achievements over the past 20 years of working for Haaretz,” the newspaper’s statement, stressed, however: “Haaretz is vehemently opposed to any form of sexual harassment. Such behavior is utterly unacceptable and must be thoroughly rooted out. Haaretz expects all of its employees to behave in a professional manner.”

The announcement came hours after Berrin slammed Shavit for not admitting and apologizing for allegedly sexually assaulting her.
“As recounted in my article, he engaged in physically aggressive behavior — grabbing the back of my head, lurching at me for a kiss, pulling and pawing at me, and pressuring me to enter his hotel room,” she wrote in a response published Friday in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.

She added: “Throughout our interaction, he touched me in ways I did not want to be touched and he caused me to fear for my safety.”

On Thursday, Shavit had issued a statement in response to Berrin’s article last week confirming that the two met in 2014, but saying he had thought of their interaction as constituting “courtship” or “flirtation” but not sexual assault.

“I apologize from the depths of my heart for this misunderstanding,” he said.

Berrin on Friday slammed Shavit’s statement.

“That Shavit would claim it was ‘flirtation’ is not only misguided, it suggests I was participating in his scheme when, indeed, I was the victim; I was afraid he’d further assault me if I did not escape,” she wrote.

She continued: “I am glad Ari Shavit has at least acknowledged an encounter took place. … But Ari Shavit has yet to apologize for what he actually did; he did not apologize for committing sexual assault.”

Berrin did not identify Shavit by name in her original account, but her descriptions of the person she accused of assaulting her as “an accomplished journalist from Israel” with dark hair and eyes who had recently published an influential book led to widespread speculation that it was about Shavit.