The global Me Too movement came into the world in 2017, not long after former Israeli President Shimon Peres left it. Five years after the death of this statesman and Nobel Peace Prize laureate at the age of 93, the continuously spreading shockwaves generated by the movement crashed into his memory. In recent days, Peres’ name has become the focus of a Me Too scandal resonating throughout Israel, with reactions corresponding to political inclinations: Right-wing supporters attacking Peres and his legacy like prospectors chancing upon a nugget of gold, while most of those on the left, including Peres fans, are hanging their heads in an embarrassed silence.

Some reports emerging in recent days link Peres, one of the best-known Israelis on the world stage, with behavior that could be construed as sexual harassment. Allegations of sexual impropriety are carving deep cracks in the Peres legacy, which dates back to the birth of the state and spans the establishment of Israel’s nuclear reactor in Dimona, constant efforts to fortify Israel’s power in a hostile environment, the pullout from Lebanon, the eradication of triple-digit inflation, the Oslo agreements and the peace process with the Palestinians. This cloud will not dissipate so easily.

Peres was the last of a generation of giants, the final survival of the founding fathers of the modern Israeli state. He served as prime minister three times — briefly after Yitzhak Rabin’s 1974 resignation, for two years in the 1980s, and following Rabin’s 1995 assassination — and as foreign minister three times, generating both great admiration and harsh criticism. In his twilight years, he achieved the warm public embrace that had always eluded him, earning broad consensus as Israel’s ninth president. Throughout his lengthy political career, Peres was the subject of condemnation by many on the political right, but with his election as president he managed to distance himself from division, turn against part of his legacy and become the national darling of the political right and left as one.

By the time he died, Peres had become one of the most liked and accepted public figures in Israel and one of the most recognized Israeli leaders abroad, second only, perhaps, to the man who defeated him in the 1996 elections, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His 80th and 90th birthday celebrations drew prime ministers, nobility and celebrities from around the world.