New law cracks down on sexual harassment by public officials

MK Lavie: Legislation tells public servants: ‘You must not exploit the position and authority that comes with your job’

By Haviv Rettig Gur

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30 November 2013, 7:07 pm

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Haviv Rettig Gur is The Times of Israel's senior analyst.

MK Aliza Lavie of Yesh Atid leads a discussion at a meeting of the Knesset Committee for the Status of Women. (photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90)

The Knesset made it unlawful for public servants to make sexual advances or comments of a sexual nature to individuals who are seeking their professional attention – even if the offer is welcomed by the recipient.

MK Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid), chair of the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of Women and a former academic specializing in gender studies, said the new law “sends a clear message to public servants: You may not and cannot exploit the position, power and authority that comes with your job… From now on, public servants who fail [to abide by sexual harassment law] won’t be able to hide behind narrow legal definitions of dependence, and won’t exploit their position and authority to target the weak.”

The new law, passed last week and authored by Meretz MK Michal Rozin, defines the relationship of a public official and a citizen seeking their professional services as one of dependence.

Unlike in ordinary romantic situations, in which an advance must be repeated and unwanted to constitute harassment under Israel’s 1998 Law for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment, in cases of dependence, such as between an employer and their employee, the sexual offer automatically constitutes harassment, since one side’s power over the other is seen as hindering the recipient’s ability to reject the advance.

In practical terms, by making a citizen’s interaction with a public official in the framework of their duties a dependent relationship, the new law forbids public officials from making any offers or comments of a sexual nature to any person directly dependent on any actions or decisions they may make in relation to their official duties.

The 1998 law “gave a name to a common phenomenon that until then had been hushed up,” Rozin said recently at a meeting of the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of Women, which prepared the bill in recent weeks for its final readings.

“This important amendment is part of that revolution,” Rozin said.

The new measure passed unanimously in its third and final reading on Tuesday, with 21 MKs voting in favor and none opposed.