More women accuse David Keyes, Netanyahu aide, of sexual misconduct
New details are emerging about the PM's foreign media spokesman's behavior, ranging from physical assault to overly aggressive advances.
By URI BOLLAGUpdated: SEPTEMBER 13, 2018 12:52David Keyes(photo credit: Courtesy)
Ten more women have been in contact with Israeli media over the last few months regarding David Keyes's improper conduct, in what seems to corroborate New York politician Julia Salazar's story of Keyes sexually assaulting her.The women, who all spoke on condition of anonymity, accused Keyes of different degrees of sexual misconduct, according to the Times of Israel.Keyes has served as the spokesman for foreign media on behalf of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since March 2016. The accusation by Salazar and, so far, all other allegations stem from before Keyes's employment by the PM's office.At least one accusation details physical assault, in which he is accused of kissing a woman against her will and trying to undress her, which occurred before she could extract herself from the situation by use of force. The woman, who was 29 years old at the time of the incident, admitted that she felt attracted to Keyes at first and was flattered by his advances and even invited him to meet a few days after the incident. She also said that she received an apologetic email by Keyes about a year later in which he asked for her forgiveness. Other women complained of overly aggressive and flirtatious advances towards them but no further details regarding the women or the incidents have been publicized.Some former colleagues and acquaintances also seem to back the allegations and paint an unfavorable picture of Keyes's conduct towards women in general.Salazar, a controversial candidate for the New York State Senate who has come under scrutiny in recent weeks for falsifying some of her life history, tweeted on Tuesday that she was going to be “outed as a survivor of sexual assault” in an upcoming article and decided to preempt the disclosure.“Before [the article] runs, I want to come forward and confirm that I was a victim of sexual assault by David Keyes – the prime minister of Israel’s spokesperson to foreign media. This story appears to be an effort to cast doubt upon my, and other women’s, accusations against Keyes. I’ve spoken to other journalists who were investigating accusations against David Keyes on background about this experience, but have never spoken on the record about it until now,” Salazar wrote.Two years ago, Salazar detailed the assault in an interview with Channel 10, in which she described how Keyes forced her to perform oral sex on him.
Following her tweet on Tuesday, Shaindy Raice, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, immediately came out to back Salazar's accusations."I also had a terrible encounter with David Keyes once and 100% believe her. I knew this would come out about him at some point," she wrote. "The man had absolutely no conception of the word ‘no.’ No matter how often I said no, he would not stop pushing himself on me. I was able to extricate myself quickly and it was a very brief and uncomfortable moment but I knew as I walked away I had encountered a predator.”Keyes himself vehemently denies the allegations. “This false accusation is made by someone who has proven to be repeatedly dishonest about her own life. This is yet another example of her dishonesty,” he said in a statement.