This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Julia Salazar, a candidate for New York’s state senate, has accused the Israeli prime minister’s spokesman of sexually assaulting her.

David Keyes denied the accusation and said Salazar was “dishonest”.

Salazar, 27, said on Twitter that she had been informed her story was about to be reported by an unnamed news organisation in what appeared to be “an effort to cast doubt upon my and other women’s accusations against Keyes”.

“Before this runs, I want to come forward and confirm that I was a victim of sexual assault by David Keyes,” she wrote. “There’s a reason women don’t often come forward after a traumatic experience – because of the triggering and vicious responses that follow.”

Julia Salazar for State Senate (@SalazarSenate18) I’m about to be outed as a survivor of sexual assault. Here is what I have to say about that: pic.twitter.com/WFjNhzBee8

Following the post, the Wall Street Journal reporter Shayndi Raice tweeted that she also had a “terrible encounter with David Keyes” before he joined Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, and claimed his “mistreatment of women was an open secret”.

“The man had absolutely no conception of the word ‘no’,” Raice wrote. “No matter how often I said no, he would not stop pushing himself on me. I was able to extricate myself quickly and it was a very brief and uncomfortable moment, but I knew as I walked away I had encountered a predator.”

Shayndi Raice (@Shayndi) The man had absolutely no conception of the word “no.” No matter how often I said no, he would not stop pushing himself on me. I was able to extricate myself quickly and it was a very brief and uncomfortable moment but I knew as I walked away I had encountered a predator.

The Guardian has contacted Keyes for comment on Raice’s allegations.

Allegations against Keyes, an American-born spokesman for foreign media who has worked for the Israeli prime minister since 2016, first surfaced shortly after he was appointed to the position.

Salazar, who was not named at the time in media reports, had said in a Facebook post that was later deleted that he sexually assaulted her in 2013 when she was studying at Columbia University.

Keyes denied the accusations at the time, saying “there was absolutely no coercion in our encounter”, according to Israel’s Army Radio.

Julia Salazar: the progressive aiming to follow in Ocasio-Cortez’s footsteps Read more

Salazar, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, had worked as an organiser for the non-profit organisation Jews for Racial and Economic Justice before launching her campaign. She has a history of pro-Israel activism but has since become deeply critical. The DSA supports a boycott against Israel.

She is seeking to unseat the Brooklyn state senator, Martin Dilan, in a Democratic primary on Thursday, following a campaign that has attracted widespread attention.

On Tuesday, Keyes said: “This false accusation is made by someone who has proven to be repeatedly dishonest about her own life. This is yet another example of her dishonesty.”

The statement appeared to refer to a recent dispute over claims that Salazar has misrepresented her background, including her roots as a Latin American Jew and describing herself as an immigrant from a working-class background. She denies the accusations.