PM ‘regrets’ his attack on media, left over gang rape of disabled woman
Netanyahu says he should have waited for police investigation before demanding condemnation of alleged attack by 3 Arabs on Jewish victim
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said he “regrets” addressing the recent suspected gang rape by three Arab men of a disabled Jewish woman in a Facebook post that criticized the Israeli media and the political left for alleged silence over Palestinian violence.
The prime minister said on social media Friday that it was wrong for him to denounce the incident prior to a full police investigation.
Police revealed on Wednesday that a Palestinian man and a teenager were arrested in the rape of a mentally and physically handicapped Israeli woman in Jaffa earlier this month.
A third man, an Israeli citizen, is also believed to have been involved in the sexual assault and remains at large. According to reports, one of the suspects filmed the attack.
In a Facebook post Thursday evening, Netanyahu said the “horrifying crime” warranted “wall-to-wall condemnation,” condemnation that was not forthcoming “neither from the media, nor from across the political spectrum.”
Posted alongside a screenshot of a Channel 2 report on the incident, Netanyahu added: “We can only imagine what would have happened if the tables were reversed,” suggesting that the outcry would have been stronger had Jewish men raped a disabled Palestinian woman.
Netanyahu’s post were roundly condemned by left-wing politicians.
Backtracking on Friday, Netanyahu wrote that the “incident, as it was reported, caused me deep pain and shock. At the same time, it was wrong that I address the subject before an investigation and I regret that.”
Earlier Thursday, before Netanyahu’s original post, Meretz head Zehava Galon wrote on Facebook that the incident was “so awful, that it’s hard to even read about it, and impossible to imagine what the victim was going through right now.”
Galon also said the rape amounted to a “hate crime” and an example of how men use rape to carry out political revenge attacks against women. She added that it was “scary and infuriating” to see that type of attack happen in Israel.
On Wednesday, the day police revealed the incident, MK Michal Rozin (Meretz) wrote a letter to Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) asking why this “act of severe sexual violence” was not publicized sooner, and criticized the “practice of concealment” by police.
Rozin also questioned other aspects of the police’s handling of the incident.
In response to Netanyahu’s first post, Labor MK Shelly Yachimovich said the prime minister should “be ashamed of yourself” for having “zero empathy for rape victims until there’s a window of opportunity to incite” hatred between Jews and Arabs.
Yachimovich accused the prime minister of ignoring issues of sexual violence thus far.
“We never heard a word from your mouth in the case of the rapist Katsav [Israel’s eighth president currently serving a seven-year prison term for rape], no moral statement on the horrifying investigation [into assault accusations against the late IDF general and right-wing politician Rehavam] ‘Gandhi’ [Ze’evi], no comment on the fate of the raped, harassed and persecuted each day and every hour… or on sexual harassment in the IDF,” she accused.
“All of a sudden you take an interest in rape victims?” she asked. “When the rapists are Palestinians. And when there’s an opportunity to exploit the rape for purposes of incitement.”
The men suspected of involvement in the attack are believed to have raped the disabled young woman and abused her, urinating and spitting on her, and shouting racial epithets during the attack. One of the suspects, Imad Aldin Draghmah, allegedly filmed the brutal assault, the Walla news site reported.
The two Palestinians who have been arrested were originally from the West Bank but had been renting an apartment in Tel Aviv, a police spokesperson told The Times of Israel Wednesday.
The Palestinian man had a legal permit to live in Tel Aviv, while the minor was doing so illegally, the official said.
Due to the victim’s physical and mental disabilities, police said they are treating the case with increased sensitivity and “caution.”
The Palestinian man will remain in jail until at least Monday, according to a Tel Aviv court order.
The second suspect is underage, so his case is being handled by the Tel Aviv juvenile court. He will also be detained until Monday, police said.
