A woman alleged on Saturday that she was sexually assaulted at her home eight years ago by a current candidate for parliament on Likud’s electoral list.
The anonymous woman claimed in an interview with Channel 12 news that Hanoch Milvitzky — no. 26 on Likud’s roster, representing the Gush Dan region –forcibly and sexually grabbed her at the end of a work meeting. Milvitzky has denied her allegations.
At the time of the alleged assault, the woman said she was working as a content consultant for companies and businesspeople, and Milvitzky came to her home as a client. In an interview with Channel 12 news on Saturday, she described the situation as escalating from “zero to one hundred in a second” when she walked him to the door.
“He didn’t even flirt with me, didn’t say a thing. He just attacked me,” she recalled. “He grabbed my hands, my entire body.”
She said that she felt unable to scream for help: “It was like in my biggest nightmare, that I’m under attack and can’t shout.”
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The woman said she told Milvitzky, “Stop, I’m not interested. It was as if it turned him on even more.”
The woman said the assault finally ceased after she threatened to bite his neck, and told him he would be forced to explain the resulting mark to his wife.
“He stopped and immediately walked out the door. He left and wrote a message to me that he was sorry and didn’t intend it,” she said.
Hanoch Milvitzky (left) with Likud party MK Israel Katz. (Youtube screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
The woman submitted herself to a polygraph to test her claims at the behest of Channel 12, in which she was found to be telling the truth. The network noted that Milvitzky also gave them the results of a test he underwent separately, in which he asserted that he didn’t attack the woman and was found to be telling the truth.
The woman’s roommate at the time confirmed to the network that she had confided in her about the assault immediately after it occurred.
Asked why she did not complain when the assault happened, the woman said she didn’t feel it was worthwhile, as nothing would likely come of it, but that she now felt it was important to report the incident. “I feel socially obligated,” she said. “I don’t think this person should be making national decisions.”
According to current polling data projecting 33-34 seats for his party, Milvitzky is sure to enter the Knesset following elections on November 1. The Likud candidate was a previously unknown attorney who until recently had served as deputy mayor of Petah Tikva on behalf of the centrist Yesh Atid party.
Milvitzky denied the allegation in a statement made on his behalf and said that he had sued the woman for defamation but that she had not turned up to court.
“Mr. Milvitzky is examining the remarks published by the person who made false claims against him and intends to protect his good name.”