"The prosecutor's office made a serious mistake by not filing charges against Micah and Atzili," says Almog Booker, a reporter and presenter at News 13. Booker, who revealed about two years ago that Micha and Omar Atzili's generation, then Maccabi Tel Aviv players, had sexual relations with minors, revealed a few months ago Correspondence between the two that proved that they had doubts about their young age and how - according to his definition - they "hunted" the girls.
But the earthquake in Israeli football following his exposure did not lead him to rest on his laurels.
Booker works three jobs at the same time - in addition to being a Southern correspondent, he presents a daily program ("News of the Day") and a weekly program ("Almog Bashishi").
In recent months, his daily program has often beaten the competitors on News 12 - no small thing for News 13, which is constantly at a disadvantage against the competition.
In addition, on Fridays he consistently narrows the gap against Keshet 12's "Ofira and Barko".
In a conversation on the podcast of the Israel Press Institute, Booker talks about the threats he received following the exposure that led to Atzili's retirement from the Israel national team, about the sexual harassment he experienced in front of his wife and the anxiety attacks in the shadow of the rockets in the handcuffs that led him to the psychologist's couch.
And also, about the defining moment that led him to say to his wife: "I will submit the main edition. It became a goal."
A small part of the conversation is presented here in the article.
Listen or watch the full conversation.
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"The national team belongs to us. A player who did what he did cannot appear in our showcase. Micha's generation should not be invited to the national team either. As far as I'm concerned, I would not want to see him in Hapoel B.S."
Try to describe to me what motivated you to come back and handle the case, this after the prosecutor's office decided years ago to close the case against the players due to lack of guilt.
"Behind the scenes it really bothered me because I knew the truth and the details of what was happening. And I worked very hard for almost a year to bring the correspondence between them, and in the correspondence you saw how these actors simply hunted those girls. How they got to them and how they behaved towards them.
"You have to understand .
They were kicked out of Maccabi Tel Aviv and moved to play abroad, and when the peace returned they returned to play here, Atzili in Maccabi Haifa and Micha in Hapoel BS, and since then the public felt that they were supposedly fine. That the girls lied about their age, and in fact the victims became accusations.
What is the biggest achievement for you in this case?
"As far as I'm concerned, the achievement is that Omer Azili goes to a match for the Israeli team and tens of thousands boo him. It was a certificate of honor for Israeli football. There was a clear statement here that it cannot be that a person who made such a big foul continues as usual and comes out as a winner. This evening led to his correct decision to retire from the Israeli national team "
The
team belongs to us.
A player who did what he did cannot appear in our showcase.
Micha's generation should not be invited to the national team either.
As far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't want to see him in Hapoel BS either, but that's another matter. It's a livelihood, so I understand."
I don't understand the division in terms of value.
Why is it yes and not?
"In the end, the case against them was closed, and there was no criminal conviction, so they can go on with their lives."
Not only was it closed, it was not reopened following the revelations of the correspondence.
"Listen to a story, a week ago I was with my daughter Omer at a match in Ashdod. Then a Hapoel Be'er Sheva fan approached me and said to me in an aggressive and unpleasant tone, 'You killed Dor Micah,' and right after that my little daughter said to me - 'Dad, he doesn't understand How serious is what they did.
' A decision was made that there is no place to file an indictment for the sexual relationship, this is one decision that I can still somehow understand, because the girls said they were over 17 and I can understand that there is an issue open to interpretation here.
But when it comes to the supply of alcohol - when we know what alcohol can lead to and when the prosecutor's office admits that there was supply - they had to file charges.
It is a serious mistake by the prosecutor's office that they did not file an indictment on this matter."
The prosecutor's office is not alone.
There were also many in the public, including the granddaughter of Maccabi Haifa owner Noa Shahar and Channel 14's Yanon Magal, who said that you are the one who gives a partial picture and does the players an injustice.
They called you Tehran.
"The full picture has been published. What I have published is their investigations by the police and their correspondence exactly as they were in real time. I must tell you, I love the review by Yanon Magal and Eli Ohana and Noa Shahar. We finally bring a story, and Ohana, which I greatly appreciate his opinion, thinks differently and says differently - legitimately. I'm not in favor of seeing only one side. I'm a journalist, that's why I came to this profession, to shine a spotlight. I have nothing personal against Micah and Azili. I don't want to hurt them personally, and I think that Omar Atzili is the best player in Israel today."
Dor Micah, Omer Azili (photo: official website, Doron Shiner)
"I was shocked. Only after that do you understand the levels of disgust"
"We were in the mall and someone jumped on me and tried to attack me, until he saw the children with me and went back. He shouted that I ruined their lives, that my goal was to hurt Maccabi Haifa because I am a fan of Hapoel BS.
To this day, I continue to receive violent messages on the networks and even when I come to the games I receive curses
Let's address the essence for a moment.
Maybe there really was overkilling here?
"It is impossible to live with something like this. On the other side sit two victims of this story, for whom it was much more difficult than it was for Omer Azili to go play abroad and become a star and return to Maccabi Haifa, or for Dor Micah to return to Hapoel Be'er Sheva and receive huge salaries.
The story is about these girls who took advantage of their situation."
Did you talk to them?
"I was in contact with one of them after the affair was revealed.
I know she is still going through a difficult time.
Difficulty walking around alone and going outside.
They are the story.
And besides, the story is ours - of people who have to make decisions and understand that they can hurt others.
If we managed to prevent the next case of 15-year-old girls whose head is only to want to be with a celebrity, I'm fine with everything."
You also pay a personal price for this exposure. It reached its peak when you were attacked in front of your children.
"That's right, we were in the mall and someone jumped on me and tried to attack me, until he saw the children with me and went back. He shouted that I ruined their lives, that my goal was to hurt Maccabi Haifa because I am a fan of Hapoel BS.
To this day, I continue to receive violent messages on the networks and even when I come to the games I receive curses.
"The problem is that there is no enforcement of these things. Leave me alone. The two girls received curses and threats on their lives online and turned them into monsters, and there was not even an investigation into the matter. So let's not be surprised that it also extends to physical actions on the street. The police had to act against this army that mobilized to harm in the girls. I myself debated a lot whether to file a complaint about things I suffered online and saw that nothing was done about the girls, so I decided not to file one. I received a picture with a car driving over my head. This is an explicit threatening statement. My feeling is that if it doesn't amount to physical harm, someone stabs You die or your tires get punctured, we don't go with it to the end."
You yourself have also been sexually harassed.
"That's right. It was at the Euro final in London, by the way, in my wife's eyes."
Sorry for the question, but isn't that kind of flattering?
"Not when it's like this. It's flattering if someone says they like the way I look. But in this case, when you're standing in front of a broadcast with the microphone and someone licks you all over the face and hugs you without letting go, then no. The truth is I was shocked. And it was still during the Corona period, not really Pleasant. Only after that do you understand the levels of disgust."
Leader many times on news 12. Morning in the studio (photo: screenshot, network 13)
"I told my wife - I will submit the main edition. It became a goal"
"I remember that I had already arrived there and came to submit, a senior in the system came to me and moved me from the assignment. I called him to ask why, and he told me that I was 'not good at it'. He said: 'You are good as a reporter in the south, but you will never be a presenter.'
it finished me"
You took an unusual route, from the far south to submitting an edition.
Not obvious at all.
"Then I replaced Tamar Ish Shalom for a moment, and I was really very excited. The road there was not an easy road. Once I established myself as a Southern reporter, it was very difficult to get out of there. Even in front of the system. And I was constantly looking for a way. I realized that if you want to bring the voice of The periphery is not enough to be a southern reporter. I realized that you also have to be in the right place in the system. It was really a war."
specify
"I kept asking to change program presenters in the company. I remember that I had already arrived there and came to present, a senior in the system came to me and moved me from the assignment. I called him to ask why, and he told me that I was 'not good at it'. He said: 'You are good as a reporter in the south, but You will never be a presenter."
It finished me.
I was in Ashdod and I was shooting an article at the beach and I stopped in the middle.
It was the first time in my life that I called the editor of the edition to say that I was not feeling well.
I got home and got under the duvet and couldn't get out of bed.
At night I remembered the sentence my mother told me (watch the full interview D.V.), and I said to my wife - 'I will submit the main edition'.
"It became a goal. And it's amazing to see, I get messages from students that it really became a lesson plan for them, and I get requests from teachers to come and tell this story. The message is that even if they try to break you along the way, you have to fight for yours and you mustn't give up, and it's all up to you .
And yet, the default - also in your company - is to take GLC graduates.
"You see, when a system recruits people, it is naturally easier for it to take someone who already knows the job.
I can understand that.
As a decision, even though I really like people who came from GLC, I make sure to take people with no experience who come from far away to my programs, in order to give them a chance. A kind of affirmative preference."
This morning's post that scorched the web
what do you like to do more
Submit or broadcast from the field?
"When the 'Guardian of the Walls' operation started, I called Nir Neuman (the editor of the main edition of 13 D.V. News) and told him that I would rather not come to the studio to broadcast. The advantage of submitting is that you can bring voices and other topics that are difficult to bring in the article. But in the end, the morning I start with the same notebook that has been around for 25 years, and after a conversation with two sources to understand what is happening in the south. There is something exciting about submitting, but what I like most is bringing the story. It is much stronger than me."
You also had panic attacks.
"True. I didn't think it would come to me. It caught me on a specific occasion when I was with the children and I realized that I suffer from anxiety. During the 'Dawn' operation it came back to me at the level of anxiety attacks in the middle of the night. You feel like you are in a dark and closed room, with a fast pulse and a lot of sweat. In a situation like this, the only thing you manage to do is leave the house and walk around the kibbutz at 3-4 in the morning and look for light, until you return to a regular pulse. As a result, I returned to treatments
. of resilience centers.
Without them, a great many people would have left the envelope.
For me too, the tools they gave saved my life."
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morning coral
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the keeper of the walls
Micha's generation
Omar Azili