The miserable attempt by veteran Israeli actor Arye Moskuna to defend his friend, actor and director Moshe Ivgy, against suspicions of sexual harassment of women was shot down within minutes on social media, forcing him to apologize. Moskuna, who was interviewed on Israel Army Radio on Feb. 3, said in Ivgy’s defense, “I see him hugging actresses, but I never heard a complaint … We are together in the show … and there’s a very young actress there worthy of sexual harassment, believe me.”

What was unbelievable was Moskuna’s comment, totally lacking in awareness, proving that he has yet to understand and internalize that the rules of the game regarding sexual harassment were changing as he spoke. As expected, his remark generated a storm on social networks and he was quick to apologize. It all happened within less than an hour.

Moskuna is a mere footnote in the unfolding scandal surrounding Ivgy, one of Israel’s greatest movie, television and stage actors, who in recent days has been the subject of claims by a growing number of women who allege that he sexually harassed them, physically and verbally. An interesting aspect of the case is that none of the women have filed a complaint with the police, and they are highly unlikely to do so. Nonetheless, Ivgy has already retained the services of one of Israel’s leading criminal attorneys, Zion Amir, and his prodigious career appears headed for a downward turn.

The Ivgy case is reminiscent of the way two similar affairs were covered prominently by Israeli media in recent months: that of former Knesset member Yinon Magal (HaBayit HaYehudi) in November 2015, and of former Cabinet minister and Knesset member Silvan Shalom the following month. The two influential politicians resigned from the Knesset (Shalom also resigned from the government) within days of claims by women alleging they were harassed by them. In both cases, not a single complaint was filed with the police, but they nonetheless quit of their own accord although they could have ostensibly stayed in office.