The scandal surrounding ex-lawmaker Colette Avital’s accusations of sexual assault against former President Shimon Peres have come at the same time a new TV series about another former president’s troubling behavior toward women arrived in Israel.
There are many differences between the accusations made by Avital – and now a second woman – against Peres and the events described in “Impeachment: American Crime Story,” about then-President Bill Clinton‘s impeachment trial in the late 1990s. But there is also one striking similarity.
In both instances, left-wing political allies of the accused leader are seen struggling with charges of unacceptable behavior toward women from such an important figure in their own political camp. With an enormous political legacy at stake, it is difficult for some to condemn the alleged behavior in unequivocal terms, as they probably would have done in other cases.
In an interview with Haaretz’s Gidi Weitz published last week, Avital alleged that the former president tried to initiate unwanted sexual contact with her on two separate occasions.
Yet even Avital herself, in a television interview on Friday, appeared to be managing the fallout and trying to soften the blow to Peres’ legacy. She argued that her disturbing account of his behavior toward her should not overshadow the former president’s accomplishments. After all, she herself was also a political ally of Peres for most of her public career.
Peres during a state visit to Norway in 2014 ???? ?? / ???
“We listen to Beethoven today after we found out that he beat his wife, so let’s not go overboard,” Avital said. “I don’t deny the fact that we [Israelis] owe this man our security, that I really believed in his vision, in his optimism, and I appreciated who he was – even after this happened.”
She pointed out that such conduct was not rare among men of Peres’ generation.
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“I’m not trying to justify anyone’s behavior. For me, these are very difficult memories. But we are talking about a period in which men thought they could behave this way.”
In a radio interview, left-wing lawmaker Michal Rozin (Meretz) faced that problem when asked whether memorial ceremonies in Peres’ honor should be boycotted in the future. “Certainly not,” she said. “While this does certainly damage his memory, it’s impossible to forget all the good he did for Israel, his correct political positions and his vision. We’re not going to just erase all of that.”
Peres played a key role in Israel’s defense policy ever since the foundation of the state ??????? ?????? ?
Rozin, it should be pointed out, began her public career as head of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, a prominent nongovernmental organization that works to assist victims of sexual violence.
Others have been more protective toward Peres and harshly critical of Avital. Former Meretz lawmaker Anat Maor told Avital that she and others on the left were “hugely disappointed” by the revelations Avital made in her interview with Haaretz, calling her words “disrespectful” toward “victims of severe harassment.”
Maor went on to chide Avital: “Isn’t it obvious to you the huge damage that will arise, that will help rehabilitate Gandhi and will be used to damage the peace process and the Oslo Accords?”
The analogy to “Gandhi” referred to the nickname of former Israeli far-right leader Rehavam Ze’evi, who was assassinated by Palestinian gunmen in 2001. Fifteen years later, an investigative TV report uncovered multiple charges that he sexually assaulted women during his years as an army officer and politician.
Over the years, politicians and civil society groups on the Israeli left have lobbied against numerous public projects being named after Ze’evi, and criticized government funding of commemorative events and monuments related to him. Most of these are located in settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Colette Avital, second from left, with Shimon Peres, second right, and Norman Mailer at an event in 1994. David Karp / ASSOCIATED PRESS
Until now, the majority of prominent Israeli politicians charged with sexual misconduct have come from the right – most prominently former President Moshe Katsav, who was convicted of rape in 2010 and served five years in prison. As the Katsav scandal unfolded, aides and colleagues in the Likud party were criticized from the left for enabling behavior that took place over decades.
Maor’s criticism of Avital was that her accusations against Peres, while not in the same criminal category as those against Ze’evi and Katsav, would lead to a ‘both sides do it’ discourse.
On Friday, Haaretz journalist Gideon Levy, who worked as an aide to Peres from 1978-1982, dropped a bombshell on a television panel by admitting that he knew women “who were not willing to be left alone in the room with” Peres. He stressed that no comparison should be made to Katsav, since “nothing approaching rape” took place.
Noam Fathi, a right-wing radio host on the panel, immediately pounced, asking why “the so-called progressive, enlightened, pro-female political camp stayed silent about this for so many years.”
Levy responded: “These women worked for him, they appreciated him for other things, they didn’t want to harm him. Let’s remember the spirit of the era we are talking about: these were really different times.”
Former MK Colette Avital in her homeDaniel Tchetchik
Levy was the first former aide to Peres to publicly lend credence to Avital’s account; other former aides have largely stayed silent. In Avital’s Haaretz interview, she recounted that after Peres’ first assault, she told his cabinet secretary and close aide, Yossi Beilin, that she was never to be left alone in a room with Peres again. Beilin has said he “doesn’t remember” such a request ever being made.
The question of how Peres will be remembered is not only a political one. It will also influence massive amounts of money that have been raised over the years for institutions related to him or bearing his name.
Millions of dollars have been spent on the Jaffa-based Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, which “develops and implements unique and cutting-edge programs in innovation, sports, leadership and entrepreneurship, health, business and environment.”
The center woos big-ticket donors with membership in the “Peres Circle,” a “global network of heads of companies, senior economic figures, opinion makers and visionaries,” providing “exceptional opportunities for collaborations and business promotions between members and top economic figures.”
A memorial event in the Knesset last year for Rehavam Ze’evi.Knesset Spokesperson
The center played a key role in recent ceremonies commemorating five years since Peres’ death, releasing footage of his final public speech.
The future of the center may ride on whether Avital’s story becomes a footnote, chalked up to the foibles of a past generation of men, or permanently stains the Peres legacy to the extent that even his political allies will hesitate when it comes to memorializing him.
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