‘HE DID AN ACT’: Female Knesset Member accuses police of sexual assault during demolition

“As a woman, I am simply embarrassed to say what occurred inside the ring,” Limor Son Har-Melech told Israel’s Reshet Bet radio station.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

MK Limor Son Har-Melech accused a Border Police officer of sexually assaulting her when she tried to prevent the police and Civil Administration from evacuating and leveling an orchard in Samaria.

The freshman legislator from the right-wing Otzma Yehudit party told Israel Radio’s Reshet Bet, “I’m very upset. Harsh things went on there.”

“You saw that human ring,” she continued, referring to a video clip of four policemen surrounding her after she had stood in front of a tractor, trying to prevent the leveling of over a thousand trees near Shiloh. “But as a woman I am simply embarrassed to say what occurred inside the ring.”

When asked for details, she answered, “When I tried to get out of it, an awful thing happened to me, as a woman…. When I tried to push one of the policemen who was doing what he was doing, the commander came and said, ‘You shoved my officer’ – because I was trying to prevent one of the men from hurting me.”

When reporter Keren Neubach asked if one of the surrounding officers touched her, Son Har-Melech, who is religious and therefore does not touch men other than her immediate family, answered, “He didn’t touch, he did an act, it wasn’t just a touch….

“In our definition, this was a sexual assault.”

“Everything is allowed,” she said in a trembling voice. “I’m really trying to digest what happened there…. And afterward, the same commander follows me and in a blatant lie … with a police camera following along so they can cover up what they did, says, “Isn’t it true that you hit a policeman?”

“I’m not going to stay silent about this, I’ll speak about it from every stage, this kind of thing can’t happen. Beyond the fact that I’m a member of the Knesset, I’m talking as a woman,” she said.

“Something very, very serious happened here, and I know that there are many more women like me that have been hurt in this way … and maybe their cries will be heard more now than in the past.”

The clip shows four burly policemen closely hemming in Son Har-Melech with linked arms. When told that they were not allowed to do this, as she has full freedom of movement as an MK, one responded that “there is a safety hazard here” and told her that “when the tractor finishes moving,” they would let her pass.

She can then be seen ducking between two men who try to squeeze closer together as she goes between them. She wriggles free after several seconds and can be heard calling them “rude and impertinent” as she walks away, visibly upset.

The MK told Neubach, “These policemen will have to answer for what they did. And by the way, the one who led them is their commander, he gives them permission to do this… I tell him what he’s doing is forbidden, and he continues. Unbelievable power-drunkenness.”

The Border Police responded to the morning’s events by saying, “The Border Police commander views this incident seriously; it does not reflect the values and professionalism of the Corps.”

The incident will immediately be investigated by the deputy commander in Judea and Samaria, and the “three policemen” involved will be suspended until the investigation is completed.