After an L.A. reporter accused him of sexual assault, a top Israeli newspaper columnist steps down
A prominent Israeli columnist and author resigned Sunday over recent allegations of sexual harassment and assault made by two American women.
Ari Shavit, a veteran commentator for Haaretz and Israel’s Channel 10 television network, first admitted Thursday to being the unnamed “accomplished journalist from Israel” described in an account of sexual assault published by Los Angeles Jewish Journal reporter Danielle Berrin on Oct. 19.
Berrin wrote that during a 2014 interview about Shavit’s best-selling memoir on Israel’s history, he grabbed her head and attempted to kiss her, then later propositioned sex. She wrote that she was inspired to write about her experience as part of the conversation developing in the U.S. about sexual assault, sparked by the emergence of a 2005 recording of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump bragging about groping women.
Shavit said in a statement Thursday that what happened with Berrin was the result of a misunderstanding. “I felt that we had a friendly meeting that included, among other things, elements of courtship,’’ Shavit said. “Never for a moment did I think it was sexual harassment. But what I saw as courtship, Berrin saw as inappropriate behavior and even harassment on my part.’’
Berrin rejected that explanation. “His claim is absurd,” she wrote. “The only thing I wanted from Ari Shavit was an interview about his book. No person of sound judgment would have interpreted his advances on me as anything other than unwanted, aggressive sexual contact.”
Shavit has since drawn criticism for his behavior from Israeli politicians and journalists. Columnist and feminist activist Anat Saragusti said that Shavit’s actions were a form of aggression, not simply an unsuccessful attempt at flirting. She compared Berrin’s account to the stories of women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. Women become “a tool to strengthen their masculinity, to confirm their power, and a sign of their standing,’’ she wrote in the newspaper Yediot Aharonot on Sunday, before Shavit resigned.
“It’s not like he stepped on someone’s leg by accident. This is a meticulous and calculated apology [made] only after he was exposed and realized that he is drowning,’’ wrote Shelly Yachimovich, an Israeli parliament member, on Facebook. “What Berrin did – to tell about what happened and not hide it – is part of an amazing worldwide phenomenon in which victims raise their heads up, stop being shy, and embarrass the aggressor.’’
Shavit’s decision to resign came on the same day as a fresh account of sexual harassment by an anonymous staffer for the liberal pro-Israel lobby J Street, which was published on Sunday in the Jewish Daily Forward. According to the Forward, the staffer was escorting Shavit to a lecture sponsored by the organization when, while sitting down to coffee, he suddenly caressed her hand and suggested a rendezvous over drinks in Israel.
“I am ashamed of the mistakes I made with regards to people in general and women in particular,’’ Shavit said in a statement published Sunday by Haaretz. “In the last few days I have understood that I have been afflicted by blindness. For years, I did not understand what people meant when they spoke of privileged men who do not see the damage that they cause to others. Now I am beginning to understand.’’
Berrin commended Shavit’s latest remarks in a Twitter post. “I am grateful for Ari Shavit’s powerful honest statement,” she wrote. “His resolution to do ‘heshbon hanefesh’ – an accounting of the soul – is admirable.’’
Mitnick is special correspondent.
ALSO
A $72-million apartment project. Top politicians. Unlikely donors. Who wrote the checks?
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
