In an embarrassing sexual scandal story in Israel military, a high-ranking capitan was arrested Thursday on charges of raping a female officer in his unit.
In a shocking statement this Thursday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) admitted that one of its high-ranking officers with the title of capitan was apprehended in a sex scandal case as he was charged with raping one of the female members of his unit.
Confirming a report by the Ynet news site of the investigation related to the rape scandal, the IDF said that the officer would remain held until Tuesday next week when a court will be held for him. “At the request of the Military Prosecution, the military court ordered the extension of the officer’s detention, for the purpose of continuing the investigation,” the IDF said in the statement.
According to the report, the officer, whose name has not been made public but was announced to be serving in a coed light infantry battalion in the Jordan Valley, claimed that he did not recall the incident at all. But unlike to officer, the female victim of the sexual offense said that she recalls the infamous event quite well.
According to her words, the rape took place several months ago, during an outing involving male and female officers from the unit. Military Police investigators also believe that the suspect might have sexually assaulted a number of other soldiers as well, the report noted.
If Israel’s military court finds the officer guilty of raping his colleague, including charges of rape, an indecent act by force, sexual harassment, and behavior unbecoming of a soldier, then he will have to spend at least 10 years in jail, not to mention that he will no longer be able to work for the IDF.
Israel military overwhelmed by sexual harassment from within
Sexual harassment among members of the Israeli military is a very common phenomenon. The military has long been criticized for its handling of sexual assault allegations. In an ongoing case in military court, for example, prosecutors denied to declare guilty Lt. Col. Dan Sharoni, who had been accused of filming dozens of his female subordinates while nude without their knowledge. His acquittal in court set off a firestorm of controversy about the case and about how the IDF handles sex crimes.
Last yearو an internal IDF survey found that one in six female soldiers declared that she had been sexually harassed during her service, with 6% saying they had been harassed two or three times and another 3% responded that they had been harassed four times or more. The survey was conducted by the Chief of Staff’s Gender Advisor, who sent anonymous questionnaires to four thousand female soldiers and officers in Israel military.
Also, according to the latest report by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCCI), published last year, there were 4,521 sexual offence and sexual harassment cases investigated by the prosecutor’s office in 2020. Moreover, just under 90 per cent of sexual offence cases involving Israeli army officers were opened but later closed without charge. The occupation army reported an 82 per cent increase in complaints about sexual offences since 2016.
“Israeli society is a society bathed in sexual violence, and women pay a difficult and heavy price for it,” ARCCI Executive Director Orit Sulitzeanu said in an interview with the Jerusalem Post last year in November. “One of the reasons for this is the fact that in Israel, many organizations derive organizational norms from the military, which is a hierarchical, masculine and, of course, militaristic organization,” Sulitzeanu also noted.
