Hundreds attend march protesting violence against women
Movement, dubbed '#UsToo', demands decisive action by state, law enforcement, judiciary against sexual abuse; number of people seeking help from sexual assault centers rose by 15% in 2016, number of sexual assault cases reaching indictment in same year was only 16%.
Hundreds participated in the annual International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women march in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening.
Bolstered by the "#MeToo" campaign being in full swing in Israel and the world, participants marched in rainy weather from Rabin Square to the city's Cinematheque plaza.
The online campaign, which has uncovered innumerable cases of sexual assault and sexual harassment around the world, culminated in a real-world protest rally under the heading "#We_Too_March – stop violence against women." The event was organized by the center for assisting victims of sexual assault in Tel Aviv, with the collaboration of the Israel Women's Network, the Women's Spirit non-profit organization and the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality.
Anya Glazov, 18, who participated in the march said, "I came to protest inequality, being scared to go out at night and generally to just leave home, and feeling unsafe around men."
Naama Machluf, 19, studies at a south Tel Aviv military preparatory program. "I'm here to protest the way women—making up half of the country—are treated everywhere. To protest sexual abuse and workplace discrimination, and wage gaps. This struggle is modern-day Zionism," she stated.
Speakers at the rally referenced data published Wednesday by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, showing a significant uptick in the number of people seeking help from sexual assault support centers in 2016, with a 15 percent increase compared to the preceding year and a 34 percent increase compared to 2011.
The Association's data also showed there had been a downturn in the number of suspects indicted for sexual assault, with only 16 percent of the 5,686 sexual assault cases opened in 2016 ending in indictment.
"These harsh figures prove that while the Law to Prevent Sexual Harassment and the '#MeToo' campaign have had a real impact on Israel's public discourse, when it comes to enforcing the law and pressing charges things are quite different," said Miriam Sheller, director of the center for assisting victims of sexual abuse in Tel Aviv.
"When we stand alone, we're more easily silenced, but when we're together we have immense strength. Now is the time to make our voices loud and clear in objection to any form of sexual or gender-based violence, to allocate the proper resources to prevent and to treat and denounce predators instead of victims," she continued.
While most of the participants in the march and rally that followed were women, some young boys and men also chose to lend their voices to the cause. One such man was 18-year-old Matan Gabso from Rishon Lezion. "Violence against women is something that should bother us all, as a society, and not just women," he explained.
"It hurts all of us, and it's absurd that it's still happening in 2017. The fact so few men are present here is proof positive of the fact feminism is still considered to be misandry to a lot of people here, so they're afraid to come and show their support," he lamented.
Israel Women's Network Managing Director Michal Gera Margaliot spoke about the change resonating through society recently. "The age of sexually assaulted women being branded as victims is over. No more single letter identifiers and blurred-out faces, but powerful women—more or lesser known—brave and proud and no longer willing to suffer quietly, to apologize for a crime they didn't committee, to feel guilty," she exclaimed.
The organizers summed up the day's events: "The fight for women's safety has ascended to another level in the past few weeks with the explosion of the Weinstein affair in Hollywood and the breakout #MeToo campaign in Israel and the world. Undoubtedly recent events are nothing less than a deep-seated social change, but things are still far from perfect."
