12 Women Accuse Netanyahu Spokesman David Keyes of Misconduct

A total of 12 women have now come forward with misconduct allegations against David Keyes, spokesperson to foreign media for the Prime Minister of Israel, the Times of Israel reports. The allegations range from “overly aggressive advances” to forcible kissing and other “incidents of inappropriate behavior.”

New York State Senate candidate Julia Salazar was the first woman to come forward to preempt a report from the right-wing website the Daily Caller that identified her as the woman who, in 2016, accused Keyes of sexual assault in a private Facebook post that was picked up by the Times of Israel before it was deleted. In response to the Daily Caller piece, Salazar told Jezebel that she “never wanted to speak about this publicly.”

On Tuesday evening, Wall Street Journal reporter Shayndi Raice came forward with another allegation against Keyes. “I also had a terrible encounter with David Keyes once and 100% believe her,” she said, referring to Salazar. “I knew this would come out about him at some point.”

“The man had absolutely no conception of the word ‘no,’” she continued. “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.”

Over the past several months, ten other women have spoken to the Times of Israel about Keyes’s behavior, which sources say “was so well-known that he was asked to stay away from certain offices that he used to frequent in New York.” Most of the alleged misconduct occurred between 2012 and 2015, when Keyes served as the executive director of advocacy group Advancing Human Rights.

The site reports:

Besides Salazar, one other woman who spoke to The Times of Israel accused Keyes of “physically aggressive” behavior that could be considered sexual assault. According to this woman’s account, he kissed her against her will and tried to undress her, and she had to use force to extricate herself from his embrace.

The other women described encounters they found either aggressive, offensive, overly flirtatious or otherwise inappropriate.

One woman, who describes Keyes becoming “very physically aggressive” and having to use “physical force to extract myself to get off the bed and to head for the door,” said she received an email from Keyes years later in which he seemed to acknowledge at least some wrongdoing:

“It’s clear that you’re not my biggest fan. I want to really apologize for being less than gentlemanly. Hopefully you can forgive me,” the email read. “While you’re in town if you’d like to catch up over coffee, that would be nice, but I also understand if you prefer not. I hope you are well.”

According to one source, Keyes sent a total of six such emails to women with whom he has had encounters. Keyes apparently felt compelled to write the emails after he was rebuked for his “disgraceful behavior” by an acquaintance, the source said.

Former co-workers, too, reported that Keyes made women in the office uncomfortable:

Another former coworker said Keyes would show “very suggestive” YouTube videos, including some showing naked women, in the office. “There were a lot of things that happened that were inappropriate, to the point that HR warned him,” she said.

“When I talked to him, he could not look at my face. He would stare at my chest. And it was more pronounced with women who were more well-endowed than me,” she added.

Several women and two men interviewed for this article said Keyes could not be left alone with female interns because he made them feel uncomfortable.

Keyes denied any wrongdoing: “All of the accusations are deeply misleading and many of them are categorically false.”