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The Israeli Civil Service Commission officially closed this week its investigations into allegations of wrongdoing by David Keyes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman in the international media, and US Ambbadador Ron Dermer.
In a letter to the Prime Minister's Office, Guy David, head of the discipline department of the commission, wrote that neither Keyes nor Dermer had committed reprehensible acts requiring additional disciplinary measures.
Keyes took an unlimited leave in September because of multiple charges of inappropriate badual behavior.
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Dermer had received information from journalist Bret Stephens about alleged behavior of Keyes, but had not warned the prime minister's office.
In his letter this week, David noted that most of the complaints against Keyes had taken place before he started working for Netanyahu, and cited a 1963 law that says disciplinary action can not be taken against officials for acts committed while they were working on behalf of the government. State.
The letter refers to the Times of Israel's September 13 report on a complainant who accused Keyes of having made an "aggressive and badual" advance several weeks after starting work at the Prime Minister's office.
David Keyes (Courtesy)
"I was a little drunk and he basically followed me into the bathroom and pushed me against the wall to try to join me." I had to push him away and I ran away, "she told the Times of Israel, asking to remain anonymous.
"For me, the strangest thing was that I was pretty drunk at the time and he was very sober," she continued. "And he came there knowing the state in which I was. And it was very aggressive. He got up and m literally followed me. I remember looking behind me and having been like, why is this man following me?
The woman stated that she would not necessarily call the incident a badual badault, but noted that "it was very aggressive badual behavior."
Following the report of her complaint, an employee of the Public Service Commission contacted and conducted a brief interview with the woman, a new immigrant from North America, following which the board decided to reject his testimony for various reasons.
"According to his description, this incident occurred outside the work of Keyes and has no connection with it and does not constitute badual harbadment," wrote David in his letter of November 27 to the PMO.
Since the incident was not work-related and did not constitute badual harbadment and the woman's identity was unknown, "there is no room to open a disciplinary investigation against Keyes," he said. .
The woman, whose identity is known to the Times of Israel, refused to specify his full name in his conversation with the commission.
In the absence of any evidence of badual badault, the commission therefore filed the case, noted David, adding that this decision was simply based on legal criteria. The panel's findings do not say anything about the truth of the complaints or the question of whether Keyes is suitable for his position, which is at PMO's discretion, he concluded.
Bret Stephens. (Jason Smith via JTA)
About Dermer, David wrote that the commission had asked Orna Sagiv from the Department of Foreign Affairs to look into the matter. Sagiv asked the US envoy why he did not report Stephens's warning. He replied that he remembered talking to the reporter at the end of 2016, but he did not remember having made specific statements that deserved to be reported.
Stephens' call came seven months after Keyes started working in the Prime Minister's Office and its contents resembled statements that had already been reported, Dermber told Sagiv.
"In these circumstances, it seems that Dermer's argument that he saw nothing new in Stephens' warning can be accepted," wrote David.
Stephens contacted Dermer in November 2016, telling him that Keyes "posed a risk to women in Israeli government offices," the New York Times reported in September.
Last week, Hadashot TV news announced for the first time that the Public Service Commission had abandoned its investigation of Keyes and Ron Dermer. According to the report, Keyes would officially leave Netanyahu as spokesman in exchange for closing the file.
On Thursday, the PMO did not answer a question from the Times of Israel asking if Keyes was still working for Netanyahu.
On September 12, the Times of Israel published a presentation on Keyes, citing 12 women who described inappropriate behavior towards them and other women, including at least two accounts of what could be called of badual badault.
Since then, four other women have contacted The Times of Israel to complain about their meetings with Keyes. To date, four of the women who have complained about Keyes' behavior have been named.
Ron Dermer, Israel's ambbadador to the United States, speaks at an event in Detroit on Monday, June 4, 2018. (AP Photo / Paul Sancya)
After the publication of the talk, the Los Angeles native took leave of his duties by pledging to purge his name. He denies any reprehensible act.
Keyes denied these accusations, saying "all are deeply misleading and many are categorically wrong". He then stated that he was taking a break in the middle of the tumult in an attempt to free himself.
In his only public statement on the subject, Netanyahu told reporters on 26 September: "I am sure that Ambbadador Dermer acted in a very correct and appropriate manner." He noted that "the issue is currently being examined by the Civil Service Commission, and we will let the investigation go on. "
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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