Nation Shocked That Politician A Narcissist

“I’m having a hard time digesting this one,” confessed fellow MK Oren Hazan of Likud.

Jerusalem, November 30 – MK Yinon Magal resigned from the parliament today amid a sexual harassment scandal that forced the Israeli public to confront the unexpected realization that a man who seeks self-aggrandizement and attention above all might engage in such behavior.

Magal announced his departure from politics a week after accusations emerged that he had made crude, unwarranted advances to a former co-worker after he left his position as editor of an online media company last year. Israeli society appeared shaken by the revelation that a self-centered person seeking power in politics would see other human beings more as objects for his fulfillment than as feeling, sensitive souls.

“I’m having a hard time digesting this one,” confessed fellow MK Oren Hazan of Likud. “Leaders really should serve as a model of good behavior, so this development seriously undermines my assumptions about ethical behavior in political figures. Is this something a a role model would do?”

Former MK Haim Ramon of Labor concurred. “I can’t recall the last time this happened. A bit of innuendo here, a mistress there, but manifestly inappropriate behavior unbecoming of a political leader? It’s no wonder this is front page news.”

Moshe Katsav, who stepped down as the country’s president in 2007, explained that Israelis have taken a long time to grow accustomed to the fact that in a culture that prizes manliness and toughness on security issues, inevitably some will conflate those attributes with a pursuit of multiple sexual partners. “Even married men are not exempt from this trend, and often you will find that even those who have not made their political reputation based on security and toughness will nevertheless exploit their position and access to mistreat women,” he said. “That can come back to haunt them later in their political careers when their fall from grace is more pronounced and more dramatic.”

An ex-mayor of Jerusalem, Ehud Olmert, warned that such behavior is not restricted to sexual harassment or unbecoming liaisons. “In my political career I witnessed any number of politicians who prized money over integrity, even if they would never be so indiscreet as to engage in sexual misconduct,” he said. Olmert echoed Katsav’s observation that such behavior has a way of coming back to bite its perpetrators when they have moved on to more influential and more prestigious positions, and have developed a false sense of security over the fact the their past misdeeds have not been exposed.

“At least Mr. Magal had the decency to step down before the police opened a criminal investigation,” he added.