(Los Angeles) The American authorities denied Tuesday any preferential treatment towards a senior Israeli official who was authorized to leave the United States after being arrested in a case of minor prostitution.
The case of Tom Artiom Alexandrovich is starting to controversy on social networks.
This senior official who heads the Israel National Cyber Director, a government agency directly attached to Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, was arrested last week near Las Vegas, when he thought he went to a sexual meeting with a 15-year-old girl, on the sidelines of a cybersecurity conference he attended.
The 38 -year -old Israeli was in fact trapped by an agent under cover, according to the local media 8newsnow, citing a police report. According to this document, he had brought a condom and thought he had to attend a Cirque du Soleil show with the teenager.
Pursued for minor solicitation, he was released after paying a deposit of $ 10,000, with an appearance before an American court set for August 27. He returned to Israel soon after.
The authorization for this suspect to leave the country, while he faces up to 10 years in prison, now arouses a wave of online criticisms, led by the elected republican Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“Would it be anti-Semitic to bring back the executive director of the Cybersecurity of Netanyahu and to continue it with all the rigor of the law? “, She wrote on Tuesday on X.
“How did America have become so subject to Israel that we immediately free up a sexual predator from children after his arrest, in a 100 % played case played in advance with irrefutable evidence, and that we let him return home to Israel? “Added the elected official. “Do we do the same with a Mexican sexual predator?” »»
Faced with the controversy, the State Department said he had knowledge of the case and denied any preferential treatment.
“He did not invoke diplomatic immunity and was released by a state judge pending the date of the hearing. Any statement that the US government has taken place is false, “said the US Foreign Affairs department.
According to the local prosecution, the release of Mr. Alexandrovich is not unusual.
“The standard deposit for this accusation was $ 10,000, so anyone charged with this accusation can pay this deposit and be released unconditionally, and that is what happened in this case,” said to the Las Vegas Review Journal The Clark County Prosecutor Steve Wolfson.
