"After the public outcry over the grinding of the complaints, Minister Elazar Stern announced today (Tuesday) that he has decided to withdraw his candidacy for the position of chairman of the Jewish Agency."
"I have been enlisted in the Israeli public service for 47 years," Minister Stern began the post.
"A soldier of the Jewish people, an Israeli fighter. Committed to the IDF, Israeli society and the Jewish people, committed to the values and goals I have promoted all my life, in every position in which I was called to serve or volunteered for.
"All my life I have worked for the preservation of the identity of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. All of these were an expression of the broad responsibility that I bear for our future as a people and as a state."
He then admitted: "I am not always politically correct and not always articulate well. But I am always loyal to the truth, my values and doing good. The same is true when I came out in an interview against the injustice caused in the process of appointing the incoming GSS chief.
"I chose to run for the leadership of the Jewish Agency, to give further expression to the two pillars on which I was raised in my parents' home: one was to promise 'never again' and the other never to make differences between people, not by religion, race, sex or sexual preference. These I have educated and trained many thousands of officers, men and women soldiers I am proud of.Wherever I have worked for equality, human dignity and a space that also allows for complaints and in-depth treatment.I have always shown zero patience towards sexual harassment and harm to any daughter and person.
"However, in the atmosphere that has been created, I do not find it appropriate at the moment to stand for election as head of the 'Jewish Agency.'
Towards the end, Stern wrote: "I apologize to those who were harmed or hurt by the words said and the interpretation given to them and apologize to my family, who stand by me despite the difficulty. I will continue to do my best, wherever I am, to ensure a better future for Israel and the Jewish people."
