I did not believe the excuses of my Abuse and I do not believe Ari Shavit – The Before

On Thursday, Haaretz published a 4,000-word interview with the dishonored journalist and public speaker Ari Shavit. In 2016, Shavit was accused by four women of inappropriate badual behavior and even badual badault.

The new interview is irritating. It is full of self-justifications and jargon intended to impress young women (its title is "Ari Shavit: I was blind to power that I had as a privileged white man" "). The play presents a man who clearly feels that he deserves to be forgiven.

In reading it, I was overwhelmed by a strong sense of déjà vu.

After the arrest of my converted rabbi, Bernard Freundel, on the crime of voyeurism for placing secret cameras in the bathroom of the mikvah, the ritual bath, the question of how, when and if I could forgive him endlessly went back into conversations with acquaintances and reporters covering the story.

is a central. And yet, there is something about men like Freundel and Shavit, who see women as bad objects and themselves consumers of these objects, who make forgiveness almost impossible

even worse, as many of them do. Men accused of badual badault and Shavit, Freundel never sincerely apologized.

After his arrest, Frendel issued a defense note demanding clemency from the court, especially since the prosecutor had recommended a 17-year sentence for his crimes. It was completely hypocritical. Even in the memo, he violated women's privacy by citing them by name from random Facebook posts about the case out of context and without their permission.

All the memo emphasized Freundel's reputation as a pbadive way, with little mention of her agency or what she did to her victims. The closest he comes to apologize was when the memo stated that "he was publicly humiliated, forced to leave his office as a rabbi, and is now a man convicted." He did, was very public and painful to the Jewish community, his family and, of course, himself. "He then goes on several pages with quotes and comments before the case breaks out on his role a rabbi, a scholar and an author

It was "the case", not Freundel himself, who destroyed his life, and at the end of the memo, you have the distinct feeling that you are supposed to 19659002] Shavit also feels the victim of the consequences of his own actions "Some people with some personal, political and partisan programs manipulated the situation to get rid of me," he says.

Like Jenny Singer Wrote in these pages, "cleverly, insidiously, it is painted as a victim #

The Shavit interview, conducted by Dr. Orit Kamir, lawyer and lawyer who drafted the Israeli law against badual harbadment, gave Shavit a legitimacy that he does not deserve not like Haaretz in publishing it.

From the beginning, Shavit's interview clearly shows that neither he nor his interviewer believe that there was anything there. Kamir's description of the episode in which Shavit badaulted journalist Danielle Berrin is horribly inaccurate, downplaying what was a badual badault. Kamir describes the "happy and respected journalist and political commentator," who meets a young journalist at a meeting that "ends without incident."

Despite the end of the incident-free incident, "two-and-a-half years later, she describes in her diary her belligerent and rude behavior toward her that night. The reaction is fast and strong. Shavit's good name is tarnished and he withdraws from public life.

By describing the encounter as ending without incident while being described as belligerent and rude, Kamir implies that Berrin was exaggerating.Of course, even "belligerent and rude" is an understatement.Berrin writes that she was "groped and caught and shot – badually badaulted" although she is grateful that she was not raped.

But that gets worse. Kamir tells Shavit that he acted "Admirably, honorably" after Berrin has published his charges. "I hope your choice will inspire others who find themselves in similar circumstances to admit wrongdoing and leave the scene, instead of deny and denigrate, "she wrote.

Yet, Shavit did not sincerely apologize." That night at the bar, I thought Berrin's interest for me was personal, not professional, "he said." I made a terrible mistake, that it arose from my arrogance. I was inattentive, and I completely misinterpreted the situation. "

Trying to push yourself physically on a woman is not inattentive.It is aggression."

The goal of any interview is to know what that the scandal did to Shavit, not what Shavit did to Berrin and the other women, just like Freundel

Since Haaretz's decision to postpone the story in the news, whitening the offenses of Shavit (who did not stop with Berrin), Berrin will again face calls for comment and will again be confronted with this situation.

After Freundel has published a letter of apology to a Jewish newspaper local before Yom Kippur, I received these calls.In his letter, Freundel wrote: "No matter how many times I try to excuse, that will never be enough." He then discussed the determination of the pain, how painful it was to listen to the statements of our victims

.In the course of the hearing, s a lawyer asked for time and, in the months that followed, he tried to appeal the conviction of Freundel. None of his previous actions to this letter, including the refusal to leave the residence that the synagogue had provided him, indicated that he was actually sorry.

Shavit manages to sound even duller than Freundel, caressing himself on the back throughout the Haaretz interview for the way he handled the scandal that broke out after his offenses became public.

When I was asked about Freundel's excuses at the time, I told reporters that to believe his sincerity, I should see his actions words

This standard n & # 39; It is not even necessary in the case of Shavit; even Shavit's apology does not match his words in the same room.

Shavit explains that Berrin was kind enough to meet him about the situation; The Haaretz interview proves how much she and the Jewish world owe Shavit.