Pime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s newly appointed spokesman was accused Tuesday of sexual assault by an alleged victim who posted her claims on Facebook before quickly erasing them.
American-born David Keyes was appointed Netanyahu’s new foreign media adviser and spokesperson last month, replacing Mark Regev, who was dispatched as Israel’s ambassador in London.
The woman, who has not been named in media reports, alleged that Keyes sexually assaulted her in his Manhattan apartment in November 2013, and since announcing the charge on Facebook, at least two other women stepped forward with similar accusations, Army Radio reported.
“This man, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s new spokesperson, is an American who sexually assaults women – am i’m here to tell you this from firsthand experience,” the woman wrote in a Facebook post that was later deleted along with the rest of her account. “I still remember vividly the night that this happened, and have a record that corroborates it.”
פרסום ראשון: צעירה אמריקנית טוענת – יועצו החדש של נתניהו לתקשורת זרה תקף אותי מינית >> https://t.co/5bbJCGLgED pic.twitter.com/cHxrKHNcoa
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) April 5, 2016
Keyes did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Times of Israel, but Army Radio quoted a denial made on his behalf by a Prime Minister’s Office official.
“I completely deny the charge, there was absolutely no coercion in our encounter,” an official said on Keyes’s behalf.
The New York City Police Department told The Times of Israel it had not received any complaints against Keyes.
The woman said the two met after she wrote an article about Israel. Keyes, a former human rights activist, invited her to meet to discuss her piece, she said. After meeting for coffee, they went back to his apartment, where she said he tried to force himself on her, according to her account.
“I resisted, tried to laugh it off, tried to be polite. But he persisted. Repeatedly. In fact, I told him “No, I’d rather not,” at least a dozen times. Frankly, I was really uninterested in having any physical contact with this guy,” she wrote.
“Eventually, after I insisted on leaving his apartment repeatedly, he physically coerced me. After I submitted to him, he finally allowed me to leave. I remember going into the elevator and sobbing, and getting off before the ground floor so that I could wipe my face with a tissue, so the doorman wouldn’t embarrassingly see me leaving his building in tears so late at night.”
לחבריה בפייסבוק כתבה הצעירה על דיוויד קיז: “אמרתי לו בפירוש ‘לא’ לפחות תריסר פעמים, הוא כפה את עצמו עליי באופן פיזי” pic.twitter.com/ziIGd7ndfU
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) April 5, 2016
Before taking the job with Netanyahu last month, Keyes headed Advancing Human Rights, an umbrella human rights organization operating Movements.org, a crowdsourcing platform connecting dissidents in closed societies with those who might be able to help all over the globe.
He was also the director of Cyberdissidents.org, which he founded while working for former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky in Israel. The site “highlight the voices of democratic online activists in the Middle East,” he told The Times of Israel during an extensive interview last year.
He gained plaudits for videos he made in which he confronted Iranian nuclear negotiators over the country’s human rights record, and in which he attempted to embarrass Saudi diplomats by holding a gay rights party at a hotel where they were holding an event.
The Saudi video has since been removed from YouTube.
He posted his first tweet as Netanyahu’s official spokesman on Sunday, saying he was “honored and humbled to serve the State of Israel.”
My first tweet as Prime Minister Netanyahu’s spokesperson. Honored and humbled to serve the State of Israel.
— David Keyes (@DavidKeyesPMO) April 3, 2016
Before Keyes’s appointment, Netanyahu’s planned appointment of Ran Baratz as his media czar was shelved amid a storm of outrage over the candidate calling US President Barack Obama anti-Semitic.
The prime minister revived Baratz’s candidacy last week, by submitting the nomination to the state commission in charge of vetting candidates for high-level public posts.
David Keyes, Prime Minister Binyamn Netanyahu’s new spokesperson, has been accused of sexual assault, Army Radio reports.
The accusation came in the form of a Facebook post which was quickly deleted. The author, who was not been named, claimed that the incident took place in Keyes’ Manhattan apartment in November 2013.
“This man, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s new spokesperson, is an American who sexually assaults women – am i’m here to tell you this from firsthand experience,” she wrote. “I still remember vividly the night that this happened, and have a record that corroborates it.”
She later wrote on Twitter: “In the last few hours two other women have approached me, also saying that they were assaulted. I kept quiet for almost three years, but it seems now is the time to talk – the Israeli Prime Minister’s new spokesman is someone who sexually assaulted me, and I am here to tell it first hand.”
The Prime Minister’s Office rejected the claims as untrue. “I completely deny the charge, there was absolutely no coercion in our encounter,” it announced on Keyes’ behalf.
Keyes was appointed to be the Prime Minister’s foreign media adviser and spokesperson a couple weeks ago. He replaced Mark Regev, who is now the ambassador to London.