Mr. ehhh, president?

They shut a deal, the state attorney and Katzav's lawyers. They must be pleased with themselves. The now ex-president will not spend time in jail and he'll pay some damage money to his 4 victims.

He's, it's official now, not a rapist. How wonderful. What a feeling of release. The state's honour has been truly saved. Hallelujah. Praise the Law!
OK, so he's "only" guilty of indecent conduct, sexual harassment of his employees and a few other nasty deeds.
Katzav happened to be the president of Israel and like Haim Ramon (minister of (in)Justice) and Itzik Mordehay (IDF general and politician) he abused his power to force sexual acts upon women who worked for him. It was easy, as he was a powerful politician and "they" were just secretaries.

THEY were women. They were victimised, their feelings disregarded, their bodies turned into objects. They, human beings with thoughts, feelings, sentiments, wishes, hopes, dreams, professions, fantasies and yes, their bodies, in short, multi faceted, female human beings, were objectified, turned into will-less "things" in order to serve the sexual needs of a powerful creep, their boss. The president.

It takes a lot of courage to file a complaint against a powerful man, who has used every tool in his hands to paint those women in an ugly light, to portray them in a horrific way and shame them.

Meny Mazouz's decision not to prosecute for rape (the police state they have ample and sound proof) but instead close a cheap plea bargain for a number minor crimes against some of the victims, shows it completely clearly: Women who have been victimised, should NOT expect Israel's legal system to support them.
Nor should they expect the politicians to support them (after all, Haim Ramon is offered a cosy minister's job). Women have learned one lesson: shut your mouth, don't complain. It's you who will pay the price, not the perpetrator.

Do something about it? Let them hear our voice, tomorrow, saturday evening at 19.30, Rabin Square in Tel Aviv.

Katzav should be tried. For rape and sexual molestation of 4 women. Nothing less.

Boycot "Mul Yam"

Today's Ha'aretz carries an amazing article, which just goes to show how much employers care about their employees' safety and health:
Mul Yam, a very fancy and expensive seafood restaurant in Tel Aviv's harbour is owned by Shalom Mahrovksy, who's most proud of keeping the names of his clients, some of them quite famous and others perhaps rather infamous, confidential, even when they try to abuse his employees.

According to the article in Ha'aretz, two female employees who volunteered to stay working late after the restaurant closed (and the rest of the employees had gone home after a long day and night of work), but a party was still going on in one of the private VIP rooms.
Both employees were offered a sip of wine by the client whose name is kept confidential by Mahrovsky.
Soon after that fateful sip, they started to loose consciousness. Another employee, who had not tasted the laced wine, managed to release one of the employees, when the guest tried to push her into a waiting taxi.
The other employee was too much out of it, to even close the restaurant.
Te next days both employees woke up after many hours, dizzy, confused and unable to remember anything from the previous evening. Symptoms consistent with so-called "rape drugs", like ketamine and others. The victims went to the hospital, but as these drugs break down quickly in the body (which is exactly what makes them so "attractive" for pervs and creeps) obviously it was too late to detect any signs.
Both employees were sacked (to be returned to their work later, when Mahrovsky understood all of the 48 man strong staff were very angry with him because of the victims' dismissal).
At the same time, Mahrovsky stated he keeps the name of the client confidential, but told him "not to come to his restaurant any longer". Which basically proves two points: Mahrovsky KNOWS exactly who the guy is, and protects him and his own business rather then his replaceable employees.
I suggest hitting him where it will hurt him most: his pocket. Boycot "Mul Yam".

When a brothel goes on fire...

Shivering in spite of the strong midday sun, the clients stand, rather wet, in their underpants. A uniformed policeman takes their details. their ID-cards are still inside. Most of them look very young, in their late teens and early twenties.
The smell of smoke, burnt plastic and soot hangs heavy in the air.
The area is ugly, small industry, second hand car lots, right behind the new regional police headquarters in Salame street.
It was called the "Aquarium Spa", but the business-cards laying around in the mud, around the place leave no doubt, this was no health spa or naive "massage" parlour, but a brothel. The women are no longer there. Perhaps they ran off through a back-door. I hope none are still inside, the firemen enter the place wearing oxigen tanks on their backs and the burn smell, also outside, is overpowering.
The heavily tattooed, Russian looking "manager" (pimp is perhaps a better word, or maybe he was a guard) is being questioned by a policeman. He shouts at me when he notices i shoot his picture. the heavy Russian accent leaves no doubt. He's angry, but realizes he cannot do much, with police and firemen present.

A little further away a white, new Volkswagen with the number 98 613 24. A woman with Slavic features stands next to it. She looks worried, scared, keeps her mouth covered with her hands. It seems she has tears in her eyes, but maybe i am imagining things. She quiet, doesn't say a word.
The clients are worried, their things are still in side. One of them tells his friend he's pissed off, as he paid money, but had not yet received "service". After a while they laugh and ask me to take their picture in front of the fire truck.
A fireman brings a pair of brand new sports shoes outside. A wet flowered underpants wearing teenager picks them up. They are still white and new looking, and wet. The young man is pleased. He looks like any other young guy. Shoulder length hair, a beaded necklace, a kid from "Sheinkin".

No one talks about the true victims, the women.


more images:

Fire

In Memory of O, or Blaming the Victim

Earlier this year O. died, after having battled a disease for a few years. A courageous, strong woman. A mother, a bright and serious businesswoman, a social activist. O. was also very beautiful. She had a great sense of humour. She was sensitive and fun to be with. She cared about others often more than about herself.

O. had also been the victim of serious and ongoing sexual harassment by her employer, a powerful politician. When she finally got the courage to say NO, she was kicked out of her job.
When she filed a complaint against her employer, he started a war against her, accusing her of the worst possible things (including crimes) while exposing her face and name in the local press. (yeah that by itself is illegal, but it did not stop him). She was found innocent of those crimes, but that fact was never published. O. had to start her life from scratch (and did so very successfully, building her own business). The file against the politician was closed for lack of sufficient proof. O. did not give up and a short while ago before her death the file was reopened. For that to happen, she employed a private detective who was able to dig up proof the police had not bothered to look for.
I know O. was not the only victim of that politician, but she was the only one with the courage to complain against him. And to fight him, even when she was battling for her life. I have learned from O.

Haim Ramon, the ex-minister of justice of Israel, has been found guilty of sexual harassment by three judges in Tel Aviv's peace court yesterday. Which implies that the minister of justice (!), represented by the best lawyers in the country, is guilty beyond any reasonable doubt, of sexual violence.

Moshe Kazav, the president of the state of Israel, is suspected of rape and sexual harassment of several women employees, over the years. True, Katzav has not yet been found guilty by the court. He might be innocent. In fact, he should be considered innocent until proven guilty. But hell, the attorney general considers he has enough criminal proof to indict him on several counts of sexual assault. Assault, not harassment.
Of several women, not one.

In both cases the accused (and now guilty, in Haim Ramon's case) parties have used their full force (and they are very powerful men, they have a lot of force) to blame the women victims, to portray them as cheap, financially interested and what not.
In fact Katzav's friends have accused A of having been a prostitute. And that is a true classic. It puts Katzav's victim on an even lower scale in the eyes of the public. But the true question of course is, EVEN if A had been a prostitute, so what? Is it OK to sexually harass a prostitute? Even if we assume for a moment that A was a prostitute (and she was not) and that Katzav was paying her for sexual services, when a woman says no she means NO. And a prostitute is a woman, not a thing And when a prostitue says no, it means NO. Once more, A was not a prostitute and it is quite clear that these pathetic accusations are used only to weaken her. They are all part of an ugly war committed by a third rate and quite possibly corrupt politician used to fighting ugly little games to save his (political) ass. One wonders how he really came to be in his high position.
However, that's not the topic of this blog.

I'd rather talk about O. and about A. and about many other women suffering sexual harassment and worse from their employers.
In fact, i have to admit that i myself once left a job because my boss wouldn't stop making most unwanted sexual advances towards me. This was some time before the current law against sexual harassment on the job. At the time, there was nothing i could do, because he did not actually touch me. But is was ugly and disgusting, so i got up and left. It wasn't difficult for me to find another job. But many women face more difficulties finding good employment, so they suffer, in silence. Often it is well known in the workplace that X is a creep. Women try to warn each other, make sure they are not alone with X. And often X uses his power to make sure a new victim has to do some overtime, when she'll be alone with him. We all know it happens. but especially weakened women (with few job skills) raising their families single handedly stand no chance and they suffer in silence, to afraid to loose their source of income.

The most amazing thing is, that quite a few men seem to think it is their right.
When the Ramon's verdict became known yesterday (a panel of three judges have found him unanimoulsy guilty) i started to watch peoples' reactions on the street.
Ofcourse that is not a scientific method of gouging public opinion, i admit it, but it was interesting and to me, also disturbing:
15.00 o'clock, the corner of Sheinkin and Allenby in Tel Aviv. A young man hands out free copies of "Israeli", a free news rag, with the header "Ramon's guilty".
People stop and start reading. Some sit down on the street furniture and all start talking. Most of them are men. And ALL of them blamed the victim. All of them.
In fact they ALL believed Ramon to be the true victim.

The women reacted differently. "That's how it is", "I hope it will not happen to my daughter", "there is nothing you can do about it".

I don't accept that, there IS something we can do about it: education. Teaching that people must never be objectified. Never, ever.

Sexual harassment and violence come forth out of objectifying the other. Once i can see in the other nothing but "a thing", i can afford not relate to that thing's feelings or objections.
Sexual violence, the objectification of people, is a matter of social justice. Prevention is in education, not in putting the blame the victims.
And in the mean time, i wish to express my full support for A and A and all the outher women out there courageously fighting aginast harassment.
I also wish to express my support of those women, not in a position to fight against it. They suffer i silnce. It's about time we break that silnce. We do not have to accept "that is how it is".