[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] Revelations accusing Shimon Peres, who led the Oslo Accords and won the Nobel Peace Prize, of sexual harassment are emerging one after another. He served as Israel's Prime Minister and President and died in 2016.
On the 17th (local time), according to local media Haaretz, a woman who worked as a senior staff member in the presidential office during Peres' tenure claimed in an interview with Israel Channel 12 the day before that former President Peres sexually harassed her.
The woman said Peres cornered her against a wall, inappropriately touched her body parts, and that resisting was useless. She added, "I am revealing these terrible memories about him today."
Just a week ago, a similar revelation surfaced. Colette Avital, a former Labor Party member who served as Consul General in New York, stated in an interview with Haaretz on the 7th that Peres sexually harassed her twice while he was Prime Minister in 1984.
Avital claimed that Peres called her after returning from his post in Paris, pushed her toward the door, and suddenly tried to kiss her.
She recalled, "At that time, I pushed him away and left the room. My legs were shaking."
Avital also revealed that during her visit to Paris, Peres, citing security reasons, visited her hotel and called her, then sexually harassed her.
She said, "Peres was in his pajamas at the time. He pushed me onto the bed, but I resisted and soon left. It all happened in an instant."
Meanwhile, Peres has been called one of the "Founding Fathers" who led Israel's revival. He served as Prime Minister twice, from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996, and was President for seven years from 2007 to 2014.
He led the 1993 Oslo Accords, which made possible the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, and jointly received the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat.
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