As is so often the case with political scandals, Israel’s Netanyahu government is learning that how a matter is dealt with and who knew what, when, quickly takes on a significance as great as the initial wrong-doing. At hand is the case of Netanyahu spokesman David Keyes, who has been accused of sexual abuse and in several cases, sexual assault by as many as twelve women according to one Israeli news source. Keyes has taken a leave of absence from the prime minister’s office, but opposition politicians – and at least one lawmaker from Netanyahu’s coalition — are clamoring for more than a leave, questioning Netanyahu’s judgment in not firing immediately. On Sunday, media were reporting that Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, who is arguably the prime minister’s closest confidant, received a phone call as far back as 2016 from then-deputy opinion editor of the Wall Street Journal Bret Stephens, warning that Keyes “posed a threat to women employed by the Israeli government.” According to The Jerusalem Post, in 2013 Keyes was barred from the Wall Street Journal “after [making] repeated advances on young women who worked there.”
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