Model agent accused of assaulting women placed under house arrest

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Shai Avital, a model agent who was arrested in the Netherlands and extradited to Israel last year on charges of sexual harassment, was released under house arrest.

Avital will wear an electronic bracelet and be banned from leaving his home in Ashkelon, the judge ruled, denying a police request to keep him in custody. The court also set bail at $1.35 million shekels ($380,000).

Avital, who denies any wrongdoing, left Israel in 2021, shortly before media reports began to surface of multiple allegations against him. After refusing to appear in court for over a year, he was captured in Amsterdam last year and taken to Israel after dropping objections to extradition.

He faces charges related to complaints from two women who accuse him of harassment while he was head of the Elite modeling agency. One of the women was underage at the time.

According to 24 other women who claimed to have also been victims of Avital's sexual harassment, the prosecutor's office did not file charges.

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