Video Shows Israeli Soccer Player Sexually Assaulting Unconscious Woman
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Ari Feldman March 16, 2018
A video apparently shows an Israeli soccer player sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, the Jewish Chronicle reported.
Antony Varenne, a forward for Beitar Jerusalem, can be seen in the video performing sex acts on the woman, who was passed out. He and other men in the video appear to be mocking her. The other men in the room have not been identified. It appears to have been filmed before Varenne joined Beitar, several years ago.
Varenne apologized to his teammates in an interview with Mako News, saying he was “embarrassed and sorry. I made a mistake.”
The Israeli Football Association has not sought to bring Varenne in for a disciplinary hearing, instead saying in a statement, “we expect soccer players, and everyone else, to behave properly and with respect.” Beitar Jerusalem also said it would take no action against Varenne.
Michal Rozin, a member of the left-wing Meretz party, called the IFA’s response “quibbling.”
“Worse, the team not only did not produce a proper condemnation, they announced that [Varenne] would play on Saturday,” Rozin said.
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman
"Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief"
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
