JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli Bedouin was arrested on charges of rape and impersonating a Jewish pilot.
The man, 43, is an Israel Air Forces reserves officer from northern Israel who reportedly is married with children and comes from a prominent Bedouin family, Haaretz reported. A gag order issued Sunday by the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court prevents him from being identified.
Three women filed complaints against the man, who identified himself as Daniel Tamir and said he was an Israeli Air Force pilot on his profile for the dating service Love Me.
None of the women accused him of assaulting them. A fourth woman is due to be questioned by police, Haaretz reported.
He is being charged with rape based on a 2008 ruling by Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein that rape can be charged in instances where a women had sex with a man due to misrepresentations he made about himself.
The man told police he never told the women he was Jewish or a pilot. He also said that the women misrepresented themselves; for example, one of the women, 59, said in her profile that she was 42.
Last July, a Jerusalem court sentenced Sabbar Kashur, 30, an Arab from Jerusalem, to 18 months in prison as part of a plea bargain for rape by deception. Kashur was accused of introducing himself as a Jewish bachelor seeking a serious relationship in order to have sex with a Jewish woman.
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