JERUSALEM – Israel’s president is being dogged by allegations of sexual harassment in a spiraling scandal that has pushed the country’s violent standoff with Hamas off the front pages.

The swirl of accusations against President Moshe Katsav has not led to charges or even a police investigation. But it is threatening to tarnish the image of a Mr. Clean politician and has invited comparisons to another presidential sex scandal.

“Who does he think he is? Clinton?” a pair of comedians wrote in a newspaper column this week.

Katsav, who has held the largely ceremonial office since 2000, denies wrongdoing.

The first allegation surfaced late last week when Israel’s Channel 2 TV reported that a former senior employee in the president’s office accused him of sexually harassing her. The woman has not been identified.

In a meeting with Katsav last week, she also threatened to disclose the number of an overseas bank account allegedly set up to collect money the president received in exchange for presidential pardons, the television report said. The employee demanded hush money, it added.

The Maariv newspaper reported Tuesday that a second woman has since come forward with similar accusations.
news.yahoo.com

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