How Israel’s attitude towards sexual harassment changed

Rape victims are not always able to immediately tell their story to even the closest people. In the Israeli criminal code, an article on sexual harassment appeared only in 1998 year, but it is almost impossible to prove the guilt of a criminal after many years. Rtvi I learned how attitudes towards harassment changed in the country and where women can get help.

Photo by Yury Belyat / RTVI

Esther, who was the victim of rape 15 years ago, tells her story without hiding her face. She stopped being ashamed when she realized that she was not to blame for anything. A young girl who was serving in the army at that time planned to have an interview and get a job. A friend of a friend, a man of age, kindly offered to give her a lift, but eventually drove to his apartment and asked for help to open the door. He said that he "forgot the pills, shaking hands, and did not get into the keyhole."

Esther recalls: “I opened the door, at this moment he shoved me into the apartment, locked the key and said that I would not go out again. He hit me with a heavy object, I lost consciousness, and then he did what he planned. ”

After almost two days, Esther miraculously managed to get out through the window in the kitchen. How she ran home, how her parents met her - she still remembers in detail: “There was a feeling that I just wanted to wash away all the dirt, all this shame, and then the telephone was thrust through my door. I heard the voice of a pleasant woman who urged me not to wash anything away, and then go to the hospital for an examination. ”

Thus began the acquaintance of Esther with the center for help to the victims of sexual violence and harassment Maslan. The phone sounded the voice of Lisa Nikolaichuk, who today heads the center in the city of Beersheba.

The center helped Esther, and now she helps others. Help comes often. According to statistics, every year more than 40 thousands of Israeli women go to the help center with complaints of sexual violence. Many of these complaints are forwarded to the police and lead to arrest of rapists, lawsuits and prison.

A resident of a kibbutz in the south of Israel - a repatriate from Chile - Maritsa was silent for almost 8 years. A divorced mother of three children, in 2000, she was raped, but she was afraid to file a complaint. The attacker held an important position on the kibbutz and enjoyed great prestige: “Our kibbutz was in the process of privatization. To get the right to land and to have my own housing, I had to stay there. I was silent and afraid that I would just be thrown out with three children, but I could not stand it and asked for help. ”

The story of Maritsa ended with a pre-trial agreement. So she was advised by lawyers, because to prove the fact of rape after so many years is almost impossible. Maritsa just wanted the man who had attacked her to confess to the crime. His willingness to pay large monetary compensation became the main evidence of guilt.

The director of Maslan believes that Maritsa was silent for so long, because she had something to lose. According to her, to judge a person, people must have knowledge, and at the root of the problem is just ignorance.

Lisa Nikolaichuk, director of the Maslan center, says: “Sexual harassment is a disease of society. This is a problem for women and men, and society should eradicate it. ”

A total of 30-40 years ago, the harassment of a boss to a subordinate in Israel was considered national fun. Stories about the love affairs of the gallant generals in the army were not fiction. Then everyone knew that the main criteria for the selection of female soldiers for the post of secretary were an attractive appearance, slim figure and readiness to keep their mouths shut.

An article in the criminal code on sexual harassment in the Jewish state appeared only in 1998 year. By this time, Israel was already a world leader in the field of high technologies, and the citizens of the country massively used cell phones and the Internet.

Yotam Yakir, 7, has been heading the Knesset’s press service for years and says that during this time there have been no complaints of sexual harassment by employees. But it was not always so. The history of Israeli politics remembers the shameful cases in the center of which were people's choices: deputies, ministers and even the president.

In the 2006 year, the police opened a criminal case against the incumbent head of state, the eighth President of Israel, Moshe Katsav. The reason was the complaints of two women who worked with Katsav when he was still the Minister of Tourism.

Vina Katsava was proven by the court, in the end he received 7 years in prison, of which he served five. Many women’s organizations in Israel opposed parole. Protests and Knesset deputy Aliza Lavi: “Before the law appeared, many believed that women themselves were the first to be guilty of harassment: they did not dress like that, did not say it, behaved provocatively. Today, there are other problems that require solutions, and we are constantly amending this law. ”

The amendments, according to Aliza Lavi, are necessary to prevent harassment. For example, today in Israel you can get a prison sentence for sending videos with pornographic content or scenes of sexual violence.

Where is the line between harassment and ordinary flirting? This question is often asked to specialists. Dr. Bela Chudakova, a psychiatrist and sex therapist, head of the department of the center of psychiatric care, seems to know the answer:

“If a secretary is sitting, the boss walks by and compliments her that she looks great and she’s pleased with it - that’s one thing. But if he said that her buttons were open, everything was visible, and it was unpleasant for her, and she told him that, then the boundaries already begin,” says Bela Chudakova, psychiatrist, sexologist.

There are those in Israel who consider the law to be too biased and protect only women. How to deal with those men whose career was destroyed at the stage of initial verification of the complaint, and the guilt was not proven in the end? In this case, women's organizations operate with statistics - the number of false complaints does not exceed 2%, while more than 70% of cases end in a guilty verdict.