Social media fans flames of sexual harassment claims against Israeli minister

Interior Minister Silvan Shalom is the quintessential product of old-fashioned, male-dominated politics, codes of conduct and power centers. That is why he did not quit politics 18 months ago, in March of 2014, when it was first reported that attorney general Yehuda Weinstein was investigating a complaint by a former office worker who claimed that Shalom had sexually harassed her 15 years ago. Shalom categorically denied the accusations at the time, claiming they were an attempt to scuttle his run for the presidency of the state. 

Shalom did bow out of the race for the presidency two months later, but continued to serve in government and in the Knesset. At the time, Shalom argued that the fact that the attorney general had decided not to pursue the case against him meant that his name had been cleared. But, in fact, the case was closed because another woman who had worked with him, and whom he had also allegedly harassed sexually, refused to file a complaint.