Justice Ministry weighing indictment against former deputy police commissioner

Nissim Mor was fired by his boss Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino.

By BEN HARTMAN
Updated: NOVEMBER 4, 2015 03:15
Israel Police logo (photo credit: Courtesy)
Israel Police logo
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The Justice Ministry’s Police Investigative Department is weighing charges of sexual assault, sexual harassment, fraud and breach of trust against the former deputy head of the Israel Police, who was dismissed earlier this year amid a sex scandal.
The PID said Tuesday they had informed Asst.-Ch. Nissim Mor and his attorney and State Prosecutor Shay Nitzan that they are considering an indictment.
A letter the PID sent Tuesday said that, while Mor was an assistant chief and also years earlier when he was the commander of the Central District, “he sought out intimate connections of a sexual nature with six female officers who were younger than he and subordinate to him, many of them with very low ranks and many years younger than he.” They added that “three of the officers were sexually harassed by Mor, who at the same time exploited his superiority over them, including one whom Mor sexually assaulted against her will.”
The PID said that the six victims had come to Mor for assistance and advice about their placement in the police and their professional concerns. As their superior, he then built a sort of “give and take” system wherein he would help or at least offer to help the complainants in exchange for them responding to his sexual advances.
The PID said he sent sexual text messages to the complainants and held “meetings of a sexual nature” with them, both during and after work hours. They added that a number of the women did not want to complain about the alleged abuse, because Mor was their superior and they were worried about their careers.
One woman who did come forward was allegedly harassed and assaulted on a number of occasions by Mor, including once in his police cruiser, when he took her hand and kissed her against her will, forcing his tongue into her mouth as she tried to pull away, the PID said.
Besides the harm caused to the complainants, the PID said the offenses also entailed a serious conflict of interest by Mor and that the case “is a recipe for serious harm to the image of the police among younger officers and has had a destructive influence on public faith in the police.”
Mor was fired by Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino in January days after news broke of a sexual misconduct investigation against him. A 36-year veteran of the police, Mor became the seventh officer with the rank of assistant chief – the highest below commissioner – to resign or be fired amid scandal over the course of a year and a half.


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