Adalah demands protection for women in face of Israel’s continuing systemic failure to eradicate violence against women

Today, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel demands protection for women in the face of Israel’s continuing systemic failure to eradicate violence against women.

There has been a more than 60 percent increase in domestic violence incidents since the outbreak of COVID-19 early in 2020, according to Naila Awad, director general of the Nazareth-based Women Against Violence. The organization received some 700 reports of domestic violence incidents in the first half of 2020, compared to 800 reported incidents during the entirety of 2019.

Palestinian women march in Haifa demanding an end to domestic violence and killings of women. (File photo by Mati Milstein)

A new report issued by the Knesset Research and Information Center on 22 November 2020 reveals data testifying to the failure of Israeli state authorities to combat the phenomenon of violence against women:

“About half of the women murdered by a family member were already known to social services… About a third of murdered women had previously filed a complaint with police regarding violence by their spouse… Six suspects in cases of murdered women in between 2018-2020 had previous convictions for violent offenses.”

In some 40 percent of murders of Palestinian women citizens of Israel, complaints about incidents of violence had been filed previously with police. In some 70 percent of all cases in which a previous police complaint regarding violence had been filed, the victim was a Palestinian woman.

So long as the lives of women remain in danger, equality and human rights cannot truly be secured. It is not enough to simply enforce the law and bring individual perpetrators to justice. To ensure the true safety and well-being of women – and a just and secure future for all – we must fight for full gender equality. Adalah is committed to this struggle, waged simultaneously on the education, welfare, and justice fronts.

We believe that our collective welfare and safety are dependent upon the abolition of all forms of gender-based, ethnic, and national oppression. Adalah demands justice for all women who have been subjected to violence, physically and mentally. Whether the perpetrators are sexual assailants, domestic abusers, or state security forces who used their weapons to kill innocents, they must be brought to justice.

Adalah stands fast behind our demand that Israel take responsibility for its violent repression of the Palestinian people and for depriving women the opportunity to live in security and dignity.

CLICK HERE to read Knesset report issued for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women [Hebrew]