Eyal Golan in emotional letter to public: 'I made a mistake'

 Eyal Golan

Singer Eyal Golan, who has been accused of having sex with underage girls, said the situation evolved from a desire to renew his relationship with his father.

  

Golan's father is suspected of arranging the sexual encounters for his son, as well as partaking in them himself.

  

"I hope that the Israeli public understands that there was a mistake in my judgment of who I wanted to be around me, in my yearning to renew my relationship with my father who abandoned me at a young age," he wrote in a letter to the media. 

"It seems that anyone, even if his name is Eyal Golan and he's a singer in Israel, wants his father at his side. But to my dismay I made a mistake. The biggest disappointment of my life – I wanted a daddy."

  

"In the last three months I've had a lot of difficult days," he wrote. "I'm aware the public is angry and confused. I feel as if I'm being hanged in the town square on a huge rope and everyone that passes by throws a brick at me."

Golan spelled out again that he did not commit any sexual offenses or disrespected anyone.

"Except for one case, in which there was an embarrassing situation, which I testified about to the police, when my father came to my house with two women, and one said she was 21. 

And after a few minutes I suspected that she was a lot younger. I asked her how old she was. And at that same moment I left the apartment in order not to disrespect her."

Golan also said he still feels the pain of being detained at the airport for duty violations.

"The trauma that I went through in the airport is something that I won't forget for years to come," he wrote. "I don’t wish that upon any Israeli. When I drove away they chased after me like I was a criminal."

The singer ended the letter with a heartfelt request for forgiveness: "I apologize to my mother, my children, my fans and to the citizens of the State of Israel for the recent period where my name hasn't left the headlines for unpleasant topics, and it hurts me."

Golan also thanked the police for doing everything they can to help end the affair as quick as possible.