Gideon Sa'ar probe to close over lack of evidence

Police: Findings of police exam did not include any evidence indicating the need for criminal investigation against the minister.

By BEN HARTMAN
Gideon Sa'ar at the President's residence 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Gideon Sa'ar at the President's residence 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Police have decided to close their criminal investigation of sexual harassment allegations against Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar due to a lack of evidence, the force’s national headquarters announced on Thursday.
The letter in which the allegations were made, sent in February to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and a number of Likud party officials, was signed with the initials “M.C.,” and accused Sa’ar of having sexual relations with a female employee in his office while he was education minister.
Within a week of the letter being sent, Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino said that officers had determined the letter was a forgery and opened an investigation to determine its authorship as well as also if the allegations it contained were true.
On Thursday, police said that “the findings of the police exam did not include any evidence that would indicate the need for a criminal investigation against the minister. During the course of the exam, police took testimony from witnesses and looked at the investigatory material and found no suspicion of improper or criminal behavior by the minister relating to the allegations contained in the letter.”
The exam also showed that the document was a fake that was meant to cause harm to Sa’ar and his reputation, police said Thursday.
They added that while they invested a great deal of investigative work, including laboratory tests and other hi-tech methods, they were not able to determine who created the forgery.
“The police view with great severity attempts to do harm to any civilians or public and elected officials through the use of anonymous, forged letters,” they said, adding that the prevalence of such forgeries in Israel demands a public debate.
Sa’ar and Channel 1 anchor Geula Even announced this week, after dating for about six months, that they plan to get married later this summer.