\r\n\tIsraeli prosecutors have closed 62 percent of all sexual harassment cases, purportedly due to lack of evidence, according to Haaretz.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tOf the 216 sexual harassment cases the prosecution handled in 2012, only 25 resulted in indictments, while 135 were closed – 83 of them for lack of evidence, 28 for lack of public interest, 11 because no crime had been committed, and the rest for other reasons such as inability to locate the suspect, the daily said.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tDirector of the Israeli Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, Orit Sulitzeanu has said her sense was that “cases involving sexual harassment at work are often closed because there are alternatives, like disciplinary proceedings or filing suit in a labor court.”<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tShe also revealed that law enforcement agencies still view sexual harassment as a trivial offense.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\t“When a woman comes to the police and dares break the barrier and complain about sexual harassment, granted, this isn’t a rape in the bushes, but whoever handles her complaint must understand that this phenomenon has a very big price – personal, economic and social – and must be treated very seriously,” she said.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\t“We haven’t succeeded in transmitting this message to the law enforcement system. Attitudes on this matter still haven’t changed. The women are blamed incessantly.”<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tThe Haaretz report said the regime's police opened 5,085 sex crime cases in 2012, including 515 for sexual harassment. This is an increase from the previous year’s figures, which were 4,563 and 369, respectively.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tBut of the sexual harassment cases police investigated last year, fewer than 30 percent – just 146 cases – were given to the prosecution to press indictments.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tThe association’s data indicate that many sex crime cases never reach the police: Of the 7,700 new complaints its hotline received last year, only 17 percent were also reported to the police. Almost a third of the victims in these 7,700 complaints were children under 13. Another 32 percent were aged 13 to 18, while 36 percent were adults.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tFully 88 percent of the adult victims were female, as were 80 percent of the victims under 13. Of the adult women, 25.8 percent complained of sexual harassment, and 30.2 percent reported suffering sexual harassment or assault either at work or during army service.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tIn a survey conducted by the Israeli Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry two years ago, 11 percent of working women said they were harassed on the job. This translates into 165,000 women being harassed each year.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tSulitzeanu said the reason only few of these cases reach the police is that the harasser is often the victim’s superior, so the victim fears being fired or demoted if she complains.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\t“Consequently, most keep quiet, don’t complain, and are forced to go every day to a hurtful, humiliating and exploitative workplace,” she said, adding that the way the media cover sexual harassment cases also contributes to women’s reluctance to complain.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\t"We haven’t succeeded in inculcating norms of how to behave toward women."<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tOf the 7,700 complaints received by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers last year, 38 percent were for rape, attempted rape or sodomy, 28 percent for incest, 17 percent for sexual harassment and 12 percent for sexual assault.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tAmong children under 13, however, the vast majority of complaints were for incest – 68 percent – while only 18 percent were for rape, attempted rape or sodomy.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tMost assaults on children under 13 – 61 percent – are reported more than 10 years after they occurred, the association’s data shows.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tBut among victims aged 13 to 18, 58 percent of assaults are reported within a year.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tThe data also shows that 70 percent of assaults on children under 13 are reported by a parent or other relative.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tThis figure drops to 30 percent among victims age 13 to 18, while 40 percent of victims in this age group report the assault themselves.<\/p>","content_source":null,"content_url":null,"content_columns":"0","content_date_start":"2013-11-20 16:50:57","content_date_finish":"2013-11-20 16:50:57","content_date_register":"2013-11-20 16:50:57","content_date_last_edit":"0000-00-00 00:00:00","content_show_img":"1","content_show_details":"1","content_show_related_img":"1","content_show_slider":"1","content_show_title_slider":"1","content_comment":"0","content_score":"0","content_recorded":"0","content_confirmed":"1","content_status":"1","content_kind":"0","old_id":"121181","tag_id":null,"tag_word":null,"tag_service":null,"tag_total":null,"tag_soundex":null,"attach_token":"2230566870","attach_date_register":"2013-11-20 16:51:10","attach_id":"115247","attach_file_ext":"jpg","attach_file_header":"image\/jpeg","attach_img_type":"2","attach_img_width":"320","attach_img_height":"120","attach_file_media":"1","attach_show_watermark":"0","score_average":null,"score_count":null,"score_date_last":null,"visit_count":"245","visit_date_last":"2025-05-10 17:31:27","attach_title":"Sexual harrasment unpunished in israel","node_title":"Commentaries","ot_node_left_right":"[{\"node_id\":134, \"left\":25, \"right\":26}]"}]]