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The sex scandal involving Dr. Gideon Aran, a sociologist at the Hebrew University, was in fact first broken to the world by the Israeli business daily newspaper Globes on June 13, 2008, but without Aran's name. Aran is referred to there only as "'A' from the Department of Sociology." Those familiar with the department would have assumed that the A was referring to Hebrew University sociologist Eyal/Ayal (like Aran, spelled with a Hebrew Alef) Ben-Ari, whose name was already in the press with regard to alleged sexual harassment of his students. The Globes article later mentions that there were indeed two Professors named "A" or "ALEF" who were involved in sexually harassing female sociology students at the Hebrew University.

The Globes article quotes at length "Ortal, a graduate student. We know now that the Ortal in question was Ortal Ben-Dayan, who went public this week in her accusations against Aran. The newspaper mentions the 1998 Knesset law in Israel that bans sexual activity between a person with a second person who works for or is subject to the power and control of the first person due to their jobs or professional positions. The newspaper cites "A" as having violated this law. The "Professor 'A'" referred to in the article is Dr. Gideon Aran. (He is not a professor.)

Hebrew readers can read the Globes article in its original here:
http://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000350401.

The article emphasizes the long track record of "A" in making racist and bigoted comments to Ortal as part of his "courtship" of her. Globes cites the student as saying: "'A' once told me that it turns him on that I am a (dark-skinned) Moroccan Jew, adding that if I were Ethiopian it would be perfect." She added: "'A' liked to sprinkle his conversations with racist comments, both because he actually believed in them and also because it turned him on to see me get angry. One time he told me that the academic level of Israeli universities was being harmed because too many Mizrachi/Sephardic Jews were entering as students. When I responded with anger, I saw that it turned him on, and not only in a research-sociological sense."

The student goes on to describe how other faculty members in sociology at the Hebrew University were sexually prowling, and especially were hunting for "inter-ethnic" romances with Sephardic women. At one point 'A' said that anyone named Ortal, a common but not exclusively Sephardic name, would be cut out only to sell things in a convenience store. She reports that "Professor 'A'" would prance about the department and brag to all his friends there that he had had a sexual affair with a Moroccan Jewish student, which he presented as evidence of his support for multiculturalism.

The article then tells of other students complaining about being sexually harassed by sociology professors at the Hebrew University. One student cited is the daughter of the president of the Technion, who studied sociology at the Hebrew University at the time.

Ortal attempted to inform other students of being harassed by "A". The other students were so intimated by the predatory professors of sociology that they were afraid to be seen in her company or in the same classroom with her.

In any case, we now know that the offending faculty member was indeed Gideon Aran. We also know from the Globes article that the entire story and the behavior of Aran were well-known to the Hebrew University authorities and faculty at least as far back as June 2008. And they did nothing at all about it. They swept the entire affair under the carpet until Haaretz decided to break it and name names this week!

It remains to be seen whether Aran will be indicted under Israel's anti-racism law, a law that until now has only been used to harass Rabbis and "right- wingers."