Domestic violence cases in Israel's society soar by 315 percent, study shows

The number of domestic violence complaints between spouses in Israel's society jumped by 315 percent in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study released on Sunday.

Ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, which takes place on November 25, the Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO) releases an annual report. As part of its research, WIZO collected data from government ministries, the State Comptroller’s office, the Israel Police and the Israel Prison Service.

WIZO’s data showed that 26 women were murdered in Israel in 2020, compared to 17 in 2019. There was also a massive uptick in the number of distress calls made to the 118 domestic violence hotline, from 2,286 calls in 2019 to 5,866 calls a year later, a 157% increase. Of these, more than half were instances of spousal violence, also known as intimate partner violence; the number of calls related to spousal violence jumped from 688 calls in 2019 to 2,853 calls in 2020, a 315% spike.

According to Rivka Neumann, director of WIZO’s Division for the Advancement of Women, the increase in domestic violence was felt across all sectors of Israeli society.

Overall, the Israel Police registered 20,140 violence offenses and threats that took place between couples in 2020, an 11.6% rise over the previous year.

Similarly, World WIZO Chairperson Anita Friedman also called on the Israeli government to step up efforts to combat what she referred to as a “real plague.”

“If the state is not upset by each of these murders, if a national state of emergency is not declared, and if government ministers’ schedules are not put on hold in a national effort to stop the bloodshed and suffering that are being passed down from generation to generation — then we have failed as a society,” she said.