AN ISRAELI Arab is being charged with rape after he allegedly told Israeli women he dated that he was Jewish and an air force pilot.
Four Israeli women who met the 43-year-old Bedouin through a dating service called Love Me filed complaints.
Despite the fact none of the women claimed they were violently assaulted by the man, he is being charged with rape based on a controversial 2008 ruling that a rape conviction should pertain in any situation where a person lies about personal details that are important to a woman and where, in light of the misrepresentation, sexual relations occurred.
The Tel Aviv fraud squad opened an investigation after a 59-year-old woman claimed she had been victimised by a man calling himself Daniel Tamir, who claimed to be an Israeli air force pilot.
The man explained his strange accent was due to his Italian origins. Under police questioning the man admitted to dating a number of Jewish women, but denied telling them he was Jewish or a pilot.
A court gagging order prevented publication of the man’s name, but the Ha’aretz newspaper said the man was married with children and came from a prominent Bedouin family from northern Israel.
As with most Bedouin males he served in the military, attaining the rank of reserve officer in the air force.
Police also suspect the man stole a diamond ring from one of the complainants, which he allegedly gave to another woman as an engagement ring.
His lawyers denied the charges, and claimed he had received a text message from one of the women calling him a “charming Bedouin”, and she did not care he was married because she loved him.
Tali Gottlieb, the suspect’s lawyer, accused one of the women of falsifying her personal details.
“She claimed she was 42 years old, and later it emerged that she was 59. When they were together he told her he did not want to have sex with her because she was his mother’s age, and her feelings were hurt,” she said.
Last year there was an outcry in Israel when Sabbar Kashur, a 30-year-old Palestinian, was convicted of “rape by deception” after he had consensual sex with an Israeli woman whom he had told he was Jewish.
“If she hadn’t thought the accused was a Jewish bachelor interested in a serious romantic relationship, she would not have co-operated,” the judges wrote.
Mr Kashur’s conviction and prison sentence, after a plea bargain, prompted a wave of sympathy for the defendant from Israelis and people abroad.
Allegations of racism and paternalism were made against the judges, who ruled it was their duty to protect “the sanctity of the bodies and souls” of innocent victims against criminals.