In a statement Thursday, Keyes said, “In light of the false and misleading accusations against me and in order not to distract from the important work of the Prime Minister, I have asked to take time off to clear my name. I am fully confident that the truth will come out.”

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A tweet posted Tuesday by Julia Salazar, a New York state Senate hopeful who is the subject of a controversy about claims that she falsified parts of her biography, sparked the renewed allegations against Keyes.

“I’ve been informed that a story is about to run which identifies me as a victim of sexual assault,” Salazar wrote on Twitter. “Before this runs, I want to come forward and confirm that I was a victim of sexual assault by David Keyes — the Prime Minister of Israel’s spokesperson to the foreign media.”

Keyes denied Salazar’s claim, saying the accusation was being “made by someone who has proved to be repeatedly dishonest about her own life,” Haaretz reported Tuesday.

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It was Salazar who initially raised concerns about Keyes, writing in a private Facebook post after his 2016 appointment that he had sexually assaulted her a few years earlier. She later deleted the post but has since acknowledged writing it.

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Within hours of Salazar’s post Tuesday, Wall Street Journal reporter Shayndi Raice tweeted, “I also had a terrible encounter with David Keyes once and 100% believe her. I knew this would come out about him at some point.”

“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,” Raice wrote.