Pro-family activist Gil Ronen predicted yesterday (Monday) on ILTV that MK Eitan Broshi, who has been anonymously accused of groping a woman 15 years ago, can expect a slew of further anonymous accusations if he tries to hang on to his Knesset seat.
Ronen said that while he had no sympathy for sexual offenders, there has to be a proper balance between the need to prosecute such offenders, and men's right to the presumption of innocence.
Attorney Keren Greenblatt said that "there are a lot of reasons why complaints of sexual assaults or sexual harassment do not come to light for many many years in some cases." One of the reasons, she argued, is that the public tends to disbelieve the female accusers, "searching for reasons to call them liars, searching for ways to undermine their stories."
Broshi was suspended from activity in the Zionist Union by party chief MK Avi Gabbay following a Channel 10 report, according to which Broshi grabbed a woman in an elevator in 2006 when he led the Jezreel Valley Regional Council.
The allegations follow a recent controversy surrounding Broshi after he grabbed MK Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin's posterior during a party tour of a Gaza border town in early July. Party members informed Labor Chairman Avi Gabbay of the incident, and Broshi was asked to apologize.
Following the expose, numerous lawmakers demanded that Broshi resign.