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Israel must improve its handling of sexual assault cases

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Israel took a commendable step in the right direction on Wednesday when the Knesset approved in preliminary reading a bill by MP Merav Michaeli to expand free legal aid for victims of sexual assault.

The draft law provides that all victims of sexual violence can receive legal aid from the time they report the crime to the police. The law currently does not provide for a right to legal aid, but only from the time charges are brought.

Michaeli emphasized that sexual abuse is not only an individual trauma, but a devastating social phenomenon.

Government legal aid can empower victims, enable more complaints, and, ideally, lead to more prosecutions.

This proposed legislation represents an essential step towards giving victims the recognition and justice they deserve.

Israelis take part in a demonstration in support of the 16-year-old gang rape victim in Eilat, Tel Aviv, August 23, 2020 (Source: TOMER NEUBERG/FLASH90)

State legal aid will make it easier for victims to file complaints, that much is clear.

For many victims who would like to disclose their identity but feel unable to do so, this system appears threatening and unhelpful.

The fact that most victims are women and experience systemic sexism at all levels only exacerbates this situation.

This is a decisive step forward that cannot be overlooked. Israel is taking a step forward out of ancient history and into the present.

However, significant gaps remain that urgently need to be addressed.

A reform that Israel must implement

While the expansion of legal aid is a positive development, the abolition of the statute of limitations for sexual crimes, particularly against minors, is a significant reform that Israel must implement.

The Knesset’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee and the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality proposed such a bill in March.

Nevertheless, it faced strong resistance from our own famous and controversial Justice Minister Yariv Levin.

Removal of the deadline for filing a complaint

The bill stipulates that there is no statute of limitations for certain sexual crimes, such as those against minors. In other words, there is no deadline within which someone can file a complaint.

It would provide comprehensive protection through the legal system to children who have been victims of sex offenders and paedophiles.

But our Ministry of Justice simply did not want that.

“It is not right to completely abolish the statute of limitations,” said lawyer Lilach Ganor, who presented the Justice Department’s position on the matter at the March meeting.

“There has to be a balance. These things may be hard to hear, and I sympathize with the victims and their pain. But … we have to think about the cases where innocent people are accused.”

This argument is not valid. Even if someone reports a crime many years later, we still need to gather evidence and witness statements.

The legal system is thorough. A court would fight false accusations. False accusations would be fought in court.

Opposing such a law only prevents innocent victims from receiving the justice they so desperately need and deserve.

“We have met other victims who were abused as children and heard about the difficulties they have described to us… That is why we have proposed extending the statute of limitations in general and not just for children abused by family members,” Ganor said in response to cries of anger over the Justice Department’s stance.

In fact, the statute of limitations was extended – but not by this government; it was one of the last bills passed by the Lapid-Bennett government in 2022.

At that time, the government passed the third reading of three important bills to protect the rights of victims of sexual violence.

The first objective was to extend the statute of limitations for victims of sexual abuse when they were minors. The second objective was to extend protection for victims from the lifting of the confidentiality of their evidence. The third objective dealt with the confidentiality of evidence.

While these were significant advances, they were simply not enough.

If we jump back to 2024, the most basic protections for victims of sexual assault cannot be advanced.

Israel’s most right-wing government yet is once again plunging itself into this crisis, and it is no surprise that women are bearing the brunt of it.

Yael Sherer, head of the lobby against sexual violence, pointed out that it is not enough to simply change the statute of limitations or expand legal aid.

Comprehensive measures are needed, including increasing staff and resources for investigating cases of sexual assault.

Without these systemic changes, a lack of evidence could still lead to the dismissal of many complaints.

Israel can, should and must establish an interministerial committee to deal exclusively with cases of sexual harassment.

Why should Israel establish a new committee?

Such a committee would ensure a coordinated response from various ministries, including justice, health and social services.

On a broader level, one can imagine that, God forbid, there are very likely more victims of sexual violence at the hands of Hamas among Israel’s hostages and survivors who, however, dare not reveal themselves because of the severe trauma they have suffered.

One day, years later, a switch suddenly flips in their head and they are ready to step forward and tell the world what they experienced.

How could Israel support a policy that does not consider such cases worthy of investigation?

Of course, we cannot arrest Hamas terrorists directly, but the principle remains: this policy would not recognize such a victim speaking out.

This is unfortunately not surprising. Israel has not been successful in preventing cases of sexual abuse at the most basic level.

One case that illustrates this is that of female IDF cadets guarding Hamas terrorists.

In April, it was revealed that female cadets in the Israel Defense Forces’ officer training course were assigned to guard the terrorists who targeted Israelis on October 7 and committed acts of violence, including sexual assault and murder.

These cadets, who had no training in guarding security prisoners, were assigned to guard the Nukhba terrorists in pens inside barbed-wire-fenced IDF bases.

The cadets were ignored when they said they would rather fight in the Gaza Strip.

State Auditor Matanyahu Englman condemned the order, comparing it to the report on sexual abuse of female prison guards by security prisoners released by the Auditor’s Office in November 2022.

The report revealed at the time that 38% of female prison guards had been sexually assaulted at least once while on guard duty.

In short, Israel is not doing enough, and its extremist government is not doing much to improve the situation.

Victims are abused and thrown out onto the streets, and I don’t just mean the attackers, but also the systems that have been put in place to protect and help them.

The author is deputy editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post.



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