Twelve women have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's foreign media adviser, David Keyes, of inappropriate sexual behavior, Israeli media reported Wednesday.
The Times of Israel news website reported the women's allegations a day after New York State Senate candidate Julia Salazar said Keyes sexually assaulted her in 2013. In the wake of Salazar's accusation, which was first made in 2016, Wall Street Journal reporter Shayndi Raice made similar allegations, calling Keyes a "predator" for his actions towards her.
The other 10 women have so far refused to be identified publicly.
The accounts shared by the women include one "detailed accusation of physically aggressive behavior by Keyes, claims of overly aggressive advances by him, and incidents of inappropriate behavior," the Israeli website reported.
According to the report, the women said Keyes' actions took place before he was tapped as Netanyahu's adviser in 2016 and that his behavior was "so well-known that he was asked to stay away from certain offices that he used to frequent in New York."
In two emails obtained by the website, Keyes apologized for "being less than gentlemanly."
On Thursday, The Times of Israel's diplomatic correspondent Raphael Ahren tweeted: "Since we published our investigation into Netanyahu spokesman David Keyes, two other women have contacted us. One said he 'put a lot of pressure on me repeatedly.' The other said he followed her to the bathroom and 'tried to get me to go in with him ... I had to push him off.'"
Keyes issued a statement Wednesday saying, "All of the accusations are deeply misleading and many of them are categorically false."
