By Michael Rotem
Jerusalem Post - April 2, 1991
The law provides for heavy sentencing in cases of rape and
woman-beating, but the courts hardly seem impressed. Michael Rotem
finds that Israeli women are mobilizing to challenge perceptions of sex
crimes
THE 50 WOMEN protesters at the Tel
Aviv District Court on Tuesday may have received nothing more than bored
stares from courthouse regulars - an assortment of anxious-looking
lawyers, petty criminals and harried police prosecuters.
The placards the protesters held told the horrific tale of 100,000
women in Israel who are regularly beaten by their husbands or
boyfriends. One out of every three females under 18 years of age, and
one quarter of all women, have at some point been subject to sexual abuse, according to Bat Adam, a recently-formed coalition of women's organizations.
But beyond the hair-raising statistics and numbers lies the
outrageous and undebatable fact: male defendants receive surprisingly
light sentences for raping a girl or beating their female partner.
Israeli legislators set the maximum penalty for rape at 16 years
imprisonment, thus expressing the policy that rape is one of the gravest
of criminal offences. Criminal law here sets the maximum penalty for
gang rape at 20 years imprisonment - the same as manslaughter.
Bat Adam is planning a protest march on May 9 in Tel Aviv under
the slogan "We will march to regain the right to walk the streets at
night without fear."
Rivka Ben-Zvi, a
psychologist, runs a center to help women in distress. "We decided to
get together," she said, "because the situation is worsening. The law
in Israel concerning rape and sexual abuse is very modern, which, regretfully, cannot be said about many recent court rulings on these crimes."
The demonstration was the start of a large public campaign against
what seems to be a widening gap between punishments given for
white-collar crimes and to rapists and woman-beaters, the organizers
said.
Ruth Reznik, who runs the shelter for
battered women in Herzliya, added: "What has been going on in courts in
recent years might give the impression that women are worthless. I'm
furious about the fact that Roni Leibovich, who robbed banks and
physically did not harm anybody, received a 20-year sentence, and Mr.
Ezra who murdered his wife, received only seven years with the absurd
argument that his children are now orphans."
Whereas Leibovich, the "Motorcycle Bandit," acquired infamy through
front-page headlines every time he struck, the sordid crimes of rapists
and woman-beaters are seldom made public. That has the effect of making
such crimes blase and routine, and may well contribute to diminishing
their perceived severity.
Following is an assortment of unpublicized cases:
* On April 19, 1986, a 43-year-old Jerusalemite violently and
sexually abused a hitchhiker. He pleaded not guilty and provided the
District Court with an alibi - at the time of the assault, he claimed,
he was at home celebrating with his son's Bar Mitzva. He provided a
video cassette as proof.
The suspicious
district attorney ordered the police to dig a little deeper. The
investigators were amazed to find that the defendant staged the Bar
Mitzva film two years after the celebration - and a few days before his
trial began.
For the sexual attack the
defendant was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. He was also
tried for deceiving the court and sentenced to a year and a half
suspended, and an additional year to be served parallel to his first
sentence.
* On December 20, 1990, a Nazareth District Court tried a rabbi in his 50s who was charged with two incidents of sexually attacking a teenage girl in a synagogue's air-raid shelter.
The defendant was found guilty and was sentenced to six months
suspended and fined NIS 1,500. In his verdict, the judge wrote that the
defendant fully confessed and had no previous criminal record. The
judge also wrote that the girl suffered no mental or physical damage
from the incident.
* In December 1990, Dr.
Yitzhak Kadman, head of the Council for the Protection of Children,
received a shocking letter from a mother whose son was raped several
times by his Bar Mitzva melamed (instructor).
The melamed admitted to the court to sexually abusing five boys. After
a plea bargain, he was sentenced to four months imrisonment. The
defendant appealed to the Supreme Court for a lighter punishment and was
released until his appeal could be heard.
"The melamed who sodomized my son and other boys is free," the mother
wrote, "and my son, whose soul has been murdered by this man, did not
get any plea bargain and did not even receive any treatment.
"There is no justice," the enraged mother wrote. "How can they
make a plea bargain and give such a light sentence to a man who had
exploited his religious position to harm the souls of innocent children?
I will fight to change the law that permits it, not only for my son's
sake but for other children. The real person who's been punished was my
son," the mother added.
* On January 2,
1989, the Beersheba District Court charged 55-year-old Eilat playboy
Rafi Hayun with assault, rape and attempted sodomy with a 33-year-old
American tourist. He was given 18 months in prison and 30 months
suspended. The judges wrote that they took into consideration the
defendant's clean record, his age and the fact that it was a first
incident. The judges also noted the woman's "provocative behavior" -
noting her alluring clothing.
* On January
9, 1991, a Haifa District Court tried Shimon Mor, 30, of Haifa, for
brutally raping a handicapped 14-year-old girl.
Mor, posing as a policeman, lured her to a beach where he ripped her
clothes off, beat her, threatened her life and raped his helpless
victim.
The defense told the court that her
client "is a young and handsome man who has no previous criminal record.
He used to volunteer in hospitals and is a saxophone player." She
added that the defendant is being harassed in the detention house by his
cellmates and that he had expressed his deepest regrets for his deeds.
He was sentenced to four years.
* On February 14, 1991, a Nazareth District Court tried three Beit
She'an defendants for repeatedly raping a mentally ill teenage girl.
Baruch Cohen, 24, Yossi Deri, 22, and Shimon Harbun, 20, were
charged that they forced themselves on the girl over a period of a year
and a half.
The verdict was given after the
three had spent three months in custody awaiting trial. After a plea
bargain the judges sentenced them to three months of work for the public
benefit.
* Last March, a Tel Aviv District
Court sentenced a 56-year-old father of four to six months work for the
public benefit, 12 months suspended and a year's probation for sexually
attacking an 11-year-old girl.
* On March 19
a Sharon resident, 19, was tried at the same court. Every night, the
defendant sexually abused his 15-year-old sister, and raped and
sodomized his teenage girlfriend. The defendant was sentenced to 30
months imprisonment and 18 months suspended.
* On April 10, the same court tried Eliyahu Afanzar, 31, of Tiberias.
The man, already serving a six-year sentence for planting a bomb in a
woman's home, was accused of attempting to rape his girlfriend in an
orchard. When she resisted, he locked her in his car for 48 hours.
A week later he tried to rape her again, beat her, tried to
strangle her and again locked her in his car - this time for 24 hours.
The defendant admitted the charges after a plea bargain. He wa
sentenced to two years in jail. The judge wrote that he was not happy
with the plea bargain, but he considered the fact that the defendant,
already sentenced to six years, would have to serve eight years in
prison, "which is a long time for a young man."
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