"Suddenly Asi Ezer pulled out the organ. 'Doesn't that excite you?', He asked. 'Try, what do you care?'"

Actor Yehuda Nahari claims that the presenter sexually harassed him at his home about a decade ago when he examined the possibility of the band to "be with her."

"He touched his organ, pulled it out and said 'look what you're causing me.' I told him I was not interested."

Nahari filed a complaint with the police and it was closed.

Ezer: "We kissed at the meeting. Everything else did not happen"

Sagi Ben Nun

05/01/2022

Wednesday, 05 January 2022, 12:00 Updated: 12:05

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Actor Yehuda Nahari tells for the first time about the harassment he claims to have experienced from TV personality Assi Ezer, in an interview with Walla Sagi Ben Nun (Stills: Reuven Castro, video: Shai Makhlouf, editor: Yardena Abodi Fox, production: Hagit Barak)

"Terrible Days" is not only the name of the film in which the actor Yehuda Nahari starred and launched him into consciousness but an accurate and sad description of two of the most difficult days of his life: one day at 8 when he was sexually assaulted by an 18-year-old, and another day about a decade ago By TV man and creator Asi helped during a professional meeting at the latter's home.

Nahari complained to the police about this harassment, but the case was closed.

The second story is now revealed by Nahari for the first time.

Yehuda Nahari was sent by Walla!

For a polygraph test, and was found to be 100 percent truthful.

In the mid-twenties he met Asi Ezer through mutual friends.

"We ran into each other on a street in Sheinkin. Asi told me, 'I have a job to offer you. I want to talk to you about it.' From there the acquaintance turned into text messages. "Play the role of the model, and I've thinking of you for the lead role in front of her.

Watch above for the photographed testimony of Yehuda Nahari

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"He did not let go."

Nahari (Photo: Reuven Castro)

"Suddenly he took out the organ and said, 'What, it does not do that to you? Does it not irritate you? Do not you want to?' I told him, 'No, stay away.'

Nahari says he helped invite him to his apartment to talk to him about the "Being With Her" series and the possibility of casting her into it. "He invited me to his house on Rashi Street in Tel Aviv to talk to me about the lead role. It felt very magical. It was evening, there was still some light. I arrived at the apartment, very excited. When you enter the house, the living room space is open in front of you, opposite there is a large showcase, in front of it two armchairs and before that on the right a large sofa with a living room table. We first sat down on the armchairs, facing each other. He talked to me about the role, the series and who is going to play the model. So he offered the role to Bar Refaeli and I'm already starting to fantasize.

"At some point, after about 30-20 minutes, he moved to the big couch and sat down. He invited me to come over, told me 'Release pressure, let's get close, everything's fine, let's talk for a moment, I want to meet you.' At some point he just started a little. Touching his penis, he said to me, 'Look, I'm very attracted to you, look why you're causing me.' I look and I'm a little shocked. "You do not want to?" I replied: "Absolutely not." At some point he approached me. "Come on, try, what do you care." I told him, "No, I'm not comfortable, please stay away."

"Tried to convince me."

Ezer (Photo: Reuven Castro)

"I was sitting there, in a meeting that was supposed to be a professional meeting, where we were supposed to talk about a role for his series, and I wondered how it could be that I was once again in a situation like this, where I feel helpless."

"Not only did Assi not feel sorry for me, he even thought he could bend me again and not let go. I got up and walked towards the kitchen, I wanted to get myself something to drink, to escape the situation. He followed me, approached, clung to me and seemed to try to talk a little about other things, calm down. Me and lighten up, but I was just trying to slip away from him. I sat back down on the couch, shrunken and frozen from what was happening, he stood in front of me pretty close. Still standing. Suddenly he took out his organ and said 'Look, what, it does not make you? Does not irritate you? Do not you want? "I told him 'No, stay away.' He came and sat down, and I moved to the other side of the couch again. He kept trying, kept exposing the organ again.

"I was sitting there, in a meeting that was supposed to be a professional meeting, where we were supposed to talk about a role for his series, and I wondered how it could be that I was once again in a situation like this, where I felt helpless. I feel like that 8-year-old boy who was sexually assaulted I asked myself what's in me that makes people do this to me. I asked myself why I do not slap him? Why do I not take my legs and walk away? Why am I frozen? I wanted to burn the situation, I did not want to burn it. "

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"I was never attracted to men."

Nahari (Photo: Reuven Castro)

"I asked myself, 'Wait, do I have to do this? I do not have to do this ?!'

And I answer to myself in the process, "What the hell. I'm not willing to sell my body for any role and for anyone."

At some point in your communication did you express an explicit desire or give a clear hint that you were interested in something romantic or sexual or intimate between you?

"No. Nothing. I have never been attracted to men. I have not had such a desire. If a man comes and approaches me or I just smell some particular sexual interest it closes me, it shrinks me, it is not pleasant for me. I have no such desire and even I also once did not express any desire or interest in something like this to happen. "

"I felt cheated and exploited. In the situation I asked myself 'Wait, so what's going on?' People's careers, and I asked myself, 'Wait, do I have to do this? I do not have to do it ?! ' And I answer to myself as I do, 'What the hell. I am not willing to sell my body for any role and for anyone, under any circumstances. It put me in a terrible situation and on the other hand I did not want to make him feel uncomfortable. There was also a stage where I wanted to scream 'What do you think you're doing? Why do you think you can do such a thing? '"

"No. What is he pulling out his cock in front of me? Even if I was attracted to men, it does not give him legitimacy to pull out his cock, show me how much he stands, play with himself with the cock and say 'look what you're doing to me.' I did not do any Thing, I did not try to play with this fire and I did not try to broadcast something to him. Maybe he felt that if he pressed more or pushed me into a corner, maybe he would get what he wanted. It seemed to me that kind of people like to get what they want, And it does not matter in what way they will receive them. "

"I did not get the job."

Nahari (Photo: Reuven Castro)

"At that time I was just leaving acting school. For me to play in prime time in a series like this - it was a dream"

Nahari says that at some point during the evening, Ezer realized that he was not going to get what he wanted. "At that moment he tried to refine everything, soften what happened and go back to talking about the role. He said 'I will invite you to audition,' and I just wanted to get away from there. At that point I also asked myself if I would really get an audition or not and if I really went "Accept this role or not. In the end I got an audition, he was not present and in the end - as you can understand - I did not get the role."

"There are situations you do not want to remember and you put them in some side drawer and lock. In the end I really wanted this role, because I knew he could change my career and give me a huge leap. At that time I was just out of acting school. For me to play in the frame "Time in a series like this is talked about - it was a dream. I just acted, I didn't think too much. I closed it in some kind of drawer. Only now do I allow myself to open it."

Stars of "Being With Her" with creator Asi Ezer (Photo: Nir Peking)

"After the sexual assault I went through at the age of 8 something changed in me, I became a loner child. Only after the army, when I entered a acting school where I dug into my soul, did it suddenly erupt in an anxiety attack."

The harassment that Nahari experienced, according to Massey Ezer, flooded Nahari with painful memories of a sexual assault he went through as a child. "I was eight and we were religious. I came with my dad to synagogue like every Saturday morning, but I was a hyperactive kid who couldn't sit too much, so I told my dad I was going out. I wanted a second to breathe, play with the kids outside, but when I went out I realized I was alone In the yard. Then a guy who was about ten years older than me came out of the nearby synagogue. He looked at me and asked, 'Do you want ice cream?'. I said, 'Yes, sure.' Everyone was in the synagogue. I entered the house apprehensively, he walked towards the kitchen, came back empty-handed. He closed the door, sat down on the sofa, took off his pants, brought me closer and said 'lick' me. I asked to stop. He said to me, 'No, go on, go on, it's okay.'I want to go'.

"He told me 'OK' and we went out. There he said 'Well, women are now ten shekels for a charity fund in a synagogue, and Nandor vows not to tell anyone about it anymore.' This experience. I remember coming home to my parents, and I did not tell anyone about it. After that experience something changed in me, I became a loner child. And there I first talked about the case.

"I grew up to be a man but in my personal experience I kind of look at the world like a little boy. Even in that situation with Asi Ezer I felt like a little boy, helpless, unable to do anything and say 'no' in discomfort. I asked myself maybe something the way I was. Saying 'no' made him feel that if he pressed a little more then he would succeed. After that I was angry with myself because that is exactly what happens to victims of assault. They blame themselves and are ashamed that they were in this situation. I was angry and blamed myself, I asked what I do not "It's okay that keeps people crossing that line all the time. It embarrassed me that in my mid - 20s I was once again a little kid, a victim."

"I had a hard time complaining in real time because of the shame."

Nahari (Photo: Reuven Castro)

"It was very difficult for me to complain in real time both because of the shame and out of fear that it would hurt my career. I did not have the courage and I did not have the strength I have today, to come and tell what Asi Ezer did to me. I was a starting player and did not want to burn in the industry."

In January 2021, about nine years after the incident, Nahari filed a complaint with the Tel Aviv police against Asi Ezer alleging indecent act and sexual harassment. Walla! Culture learned that the case was closed.

"It's very difficult to take that step, to go and complain about someone, who supposedly has a lot of power. In the end it's your word versus his word. There are quite a few cases of victims who are unfortunately not treated fairly in court or in the police, and why? Because very difficult After I complained, someone from the prosecution called me and said, 'Listen, first of all I believe you, I believe your testimony, I believe that is what happened, your testimony is credible, but we're closing the case.

"I had a very hard time complaining in real time both because of the shame and for fear it would hurt my career. I did not have the courage and I did not have the strength I have today, to come and tell what Asi Ezer did to me. I was a starting player and did not want to burn in the industry. As part of the journey I am going through, I understand that I must talk about it, not only for myself but also to inspire anyone who has experienced sexual or physical assault and is afraid to take it out. If my testimony is the one that will stop that person and give him the power to speak, I did mine.

"I had a lot of thoughts about taking my own life. I travel the world and do not know what my value is because you are actually treated like a meat god and exploited, so you do not really know what your value is. To this day I am learning to understand my value and who I am. I I really do not know so much what my value is because he was so hurt even at a young age. I said to myself 'why even be in this life if this world looks the way it does?'.

"Sure. After years of treatment, professionals have helped me understand that because of the physical, emotional and victim and unconscious place, it turned out that I had a projection of my self-worth on many around me. "Those who happened to be in my way. Today the treatments helped me see it and change. From this place I tell you: talk, take out and go to treatment because it is a cycle of unconscious destruction not only towards yourself but towards the environment."

"Behind the fake smile hides a disgusted man."

Ezer (Photo: Reuven Castro)

"The boy in me wanted to hold the microphone and say 'you are zero, you are nothing, you are annoying, behind your fake smile hides a disgusting person', but I did not confront him"

The esteemed actor Yehuda Nahari Halevi was born in October 1985 and grew up in the Neve Amal neighborhood of Herzliya, 500 meters from the family home of Yigal Amir, whom he played in the acclaimed film "Horrible Days." The film won Ophir Awards in the Best Feature Film category and in the Casting category. Nahari himself was nominated for the Lead Actor Award, won rave reviews in Israel and around the world for his role in the film (among other things he was defined as an "outstanding actor" in the New York Times, as someone who "plays well" in the Hollywood Reporter, "talent" in the country, "excellent in the role The main "in time out, and was defined as" warning "by Avner Shavit in Walla).

Nahari studied acting at the Haderech School, among other places. In the theater he played in the musical "Billy Schwartz" in the Haifa Theater, in "Romeo and Juliet Returns to the Sources" in the Tahal Theater, in the play "There and Back" by the Hebrew Theater, "Five Long Minutes" by the Dawn Theater and currently stars in the play Of the Goshen Theater. On television, he starred in the lead roles in "Our Song High School" as well as in the series "Profile 64", "Dead for a Moment", "Empire Zaguri" and in the movies "The Golden Pomegranate", "Snails in the Rain" and "Paper Wedding".

"There was some deliberation, but it's part of a process I go through - facing the events and not letting them run my life anymore. I wanted to be in the program because I really like climbing from a young age, and I really like this competition. I wanted to prove to myself that I could hit the buzzer and I proved I also went to the ninja because I was afraid that they would categorize me as Yigal Amir and not want to cast me for anything else. "I tried to forget everything."

"I hope Assi at least takes responsibility and says he apologizes"

What made you agree to be exposed to you and your name now?

"The psychological process that made me realize that a victim should help himself after an injury, and should also help others speak up and receive treatment while preventing them from adopting misguided behavioral strategies from a vulnerable and unconscious place."

"I hope he at least takes responsibility and says he apologizes."

Polygraph examination (Photo: Walla !, Walla!)

The complaint to the police (Photo: Walla !, Walla!)

In parallel with his acting career, Nahari is working on a lecture called "Making His Voice Out" in which he talks about his past harassment and his way of healing. "People are not aware of it but once a person is harassed, exploited or raped - it's like murder. Sometimes it's worse than murder because the person has to live with that trauma all his life. It's a terrible feeling, a feeling that you have to constantly prove to yourself that you're strong enough. Man. In the lecture I will talk about things to give people, especially men, inspiration to come and talk about it, remove the shame and the sacrifices and make that voice out of it

. "I am here for myself and for others," concludes Nahari. If I can get one more boy or man to come and talk about this thing, let it go and do a process with himself, get out of the circle of victims and get stronger from it, then I did mine. "For

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Asi Ezer responded: "I met Yehuda more than ten years ago at my home for a pleasant and friendly meeting during which we even kissed. All the other things described in the article never happened."

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