JERUSALEM — A top official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government who has been accused of sexual misconduct said on Sunday that he would step down.
The official, Silvan Shalom, the Israeli interior minister and deputy prime minister, has denied the allegations.
Israel’s attorney general ordered the police to investigate after at least seven women said Mr. Shalom had sexually harassed them.
Mr. Shalom is one of Israel’s best-known politicians and had previously served as foreign minister and finance minister. He has long been an important figure in Mr. Netanyahu’s conservative Likud Party and he is married to a wealthy socialite from an influential Israeli family.
He is the latest Israeli public figure to be accused of sexual misconduct. The police anti-fraud chief is under investigation, and another lawmaker in Mr. Netanyahu’s governing coalition resigned last month, both amid similar allegations.
Moshe Katzav, who once held the largely ceremonial post of president, is serving a prison sentence for rape.
Other politicians have gotten into trouble for financial wrongdoing. In May, Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister who was forced from office over allegations of corruption, was sentenced to eight months in jail for fraud and breach of trust in a case involving an American businessman.
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