Judge steps down after ‘some enjoy rape’ comment
Victim in case hospitalized after learning of remark; Nissim Yeshaya still says he doesn’t know what the fuss is about; PM no longer backing him for Likud post
A judge, formerly of the Tel Aviv District Court, stepped down Wednesday from his post-retirement work on various judicial panels amid a public furor over comments he made in a National Insurance Institution deliberation earlier this week to the effect that some girls “enjoy being raped.”
Nissim Yeshaya was presiding over an appeals hearing relating to the rape of an Israeli 13-year-old girl seven years ago by four Palestinian youths, when he made the comment. He apologized and said the remark was taken out of context, but later told Channel 2 that he had only apologized because he was advised to do so by a public-relations professional, that his words were taken out of context, and that he did not understand why his comments had caused an uproar.
The rape victim, now 21, collapsed after her lawyer apprised her of the comment and was hospitalized at Jerusalem’s Hadassah-Ein Kerem Hospital.
Her father said Wednesday that the family was worried that seven years of gradual rehabilitation of his daughter had been undone. Speaking on Channel 10, he also said it wasn’t the first time he’d heard these kinds of comments from judges. He said his daughter had asked him to give the interview, to “tear apart” Yeshaya. People like him, said the father, “shouldn’t be delivering verdicts.”
The panel was deliberating the victim’s request to be recognized as a victim of terrorism and receive the welfare benefits associated with that status.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among a slew of officials who harshly criticized the judge. He also withdrew his support for Yeshaya’s candidacy as head of his Likud party’s internal court. Yeshaya retired from the district court bench four years ago, aged 66. He has since occasional work on panels such as the NII hearing in this case.
In a joint announcement Wednesday, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Supreme Court President Asher Grunis said Yeshaya had been summoned to an internal hearing, during which he expressed his desire to leave his post.
“The judge’s statement was appalling and outrageous,” Livni said. “It is difficult to assess the total harm it caused, which may deter other sexual assault victims, present and future, from complaining about attacks.”
Yeshaya, who served on the bench of the Tel Aviv District Court from 1993 to 2009, was leading the panel on Monday when he made the remark, bringing the room to sudden silence.
According to a lawyer present at the scene, Yeshaya “didn’t really understand what he said and didn’t understand why everyone was quiet.”
Roni Sadovnick, the lawyer representing the girl, said the Israeli justice system could stand to learn from the incident.
The four Palestinian teenagers involved in the crime were captured, convicted and imprisoned at the time, but the Defense Ministry ruled that the rape was not an act of terrorism. That meant the victim was not entitled to government compensation and other benefits received by terror victims. The Defense Ministry oversees criminal cases involving West Bank Palestinians.
The victim was described as being “upset and very hurt” after hearing about the judge’s comments.
Sadovnick, who argued that the victim was targeted because she was Jewish, told Army Radio that “the problem is that state of mind, that thought, that prejudice against the victims of sexual assault. It’s the tip of the iceberg when judges trip on their tongues and give voice to what is in their hearts.”
