Haifa district state prosecutors announced Sunday that actor Moshe Ivgy will be charged, subject to a hearing, with committing sex crimes against four women.
An investigation by the police special investigations unit alleged that between 2012 and 2013 Ivgy allegedly committed indecent acts and sexually harassed these women, some of whom he was working with.
Attorney Zion Amir, who is representing Ivgy, said, “We received this announcement and will soon receive the evidence, after which we’ll prepare for the hearing.
I remind everyone that Ivgy fully cooperated throughout the investigation and answered all questions.
He has consistently denied all claims and suspicions of sexually offending any of these women.”
In May 2016, three months after the investigation began, police transferred their findings to state prosecutors.
They said the investigation confirmed suspicions that Ivgy had committed transgressions against three of the women, exploiting his status while they were working together.
The allegations came to light in February 2016 when an employee of Haifa Theater filed a cautionary note prior to filing a petition, claiming that her earlier charge of sexual harassment, made two years earlier to the theater, had not been adequately handled.
In a hearing, Ivgy apologized for the “misunderstanding” and the issue was said to have been resolved to the claimant’s satisfaction, and she was transferred to another production.
Later, it turned out that other women had also complained that the actor had harassed them.
Ivgy replied that he “respects all the people who have worked with me. I’m shocked by these claims. I’ve never hurt anybody. My conscience is clear.”
The Walla! website reported the testimony of a woman who said that Ivgy had harassed her 10 years earlier, when she was in her 20s. She said he used to touch the breasts of women he worked with. “At the end of the production he came over and aggressively shoved his tongue into my mouth.
It was so sudden and unexpected that at first I didn’t connect that ugly thing in my mouth to the actor in front of me. I pushed him away and we walked off with unpleasant feelings.”
After these reports Ivgy took a break from the theater.
“I repeat I’ve never hurt anyone, man or woman,” he wrote. “If needed, I’ll give my complete version at the appropriate and authorized location.”
