Far Right Wing Israeli Politician Quits Over Sex Charges
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
An Israeli lawmaker from the Jewish Home Party will resign from the Knesset over sexual assault allegations.
Yinon Magal informed party leader Naftali Bennett on Monday that he will resign following the accusations by two women who worked with him when he was editor of the Hebrew language news website Walla, as well as others.
At least four women in recent weeks have accused Magal, who is married, of making lewd comments and sexual assault in the past.
Magal had resigned last week from his position as Jewish Home’s Knesset faction chairman in light of the allegations. He apologized for his actions.
“I made a mistake in my past conduct, which is even more unbecoming for the public official I am today,” Magal said in a statement last week. “I apologize from the bottom of my heart to those who were hurt. I am determined to correct my behavior and also to repair things on the personal and family level.”
On Monday, Magal reportedly said in a statement announcing his decision to resign that, while his actions were not criminal, people were hurt by them, leading to his decision.
Bennett, who is currently in the United States, called Magal’s decision “proper.”
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
