Haaretz journalist resigns, apologizes after statutory rape allegations

Long-time Haaretz journalist Roy "Chicky" Arad resigned from his position on Wednesday evening, in anticipation of a report scheduled to be published in the online magazine HaMakom, which will allegedly detail multiple incidents in which the journalist engaged in non-consensual sexual situations with minors. 

The uproar began last Monday, when HaMakom journalist Sharon Shpurer tweeted a vague, cryptic message which detailed a specific inappropriate sexual situation, urging others to contact her if they have more information on the topic.

In the tweet, Shpurer said "I will make it as vague as possible this time and still: A man from the field of communications (he has other titles but I'm choosing to use the most general one), who opens, or used to open, the door for girls. Some are very young, who come to his home for the first time. With a robe. Sometimes, he is already lying in bed and his genitals are out."

While the tweet was purposefully vague, as the report was still incomplete at the time, word of Shpurer's investigation seems to have gotten around to the intended target, Haaretz journalist Roy "Chicky" Arad. 

The journalist announced his resignation and apologized in a Facebook post the night before the report itself came out, which some on social media have claimed is an attempt to set the media narrative himself, before all the details come out.

In the apology, Arad does not deny the events, but says he does not remember them happening, that he was intoxicated and that they happened in the early 2000's.

In addition to resigning from his position at Haaretz, Arad announced in the apology that he has also stepped down from managing his independent online culture magazine.

In the apology, Arad acknowleged the hypocrisy which now seems prevalent in his many articles on gender and feminism, saying "Full of sadness, I apologize to every woman who ever felt I had hurt her. As someone who sought to make the world less awful, who considered himself a promoter of women and even stands on the side of the women - I feel like a failure. All my scorching struggles and social articles right now seem to me like a bad joke in the face of this great sorrow."

"Publicly, but also personally, I will not be able to continue my business as usual when such a dark cloud hovers over my head, biting into my soul. How can I now publish poems, perform in funny clothes or write articles? Unfortunately, it is not possible to step back in time. In order to not be left with only nice words, I'm taking  break for an indefinite amount time, from any activity, and am going away for self-exile and soul-searching," Arad said.

"I ask my friends to respect the women in the article, and I do not need likes or public support. Sometimes bowing your head, listening and being silent is the right thing to do," he concluded.

Apparently, some in the media did not heed the request Arad made at the end of his apology. Shortly after the resignation was announced on Wednesday evening, Shpurer shared a screenshot of an alleged deleted tweet by right-wing media personality Shimon Riklin, in which he calls her a "violent bitch," "vile," and a "loser with no life" in response to the story.