A 64-year-old man in northern Israel was indicted Monday for allegedly raping his two daughters for 10 years! Such a horrific and disgusting case shocked Israel, yet there was not a lawmaker in sight.
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The case in Gadera – where a woman was allegedly raped by an intruder in front of her children – started out the same, with National Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir only coming onto the scene after the police said the perpetrator was an Arab.
Not even Merav Michaeli and Orna Barbivai, Israel's women's rights warriors, bothered to tweet and condemn the rape of the mother, who was threatened to be killed unless she kept quiet.
Yet on Monday morning, after a devastating earthquake hit Turkey, Michaeli published a message of condolences to the Turkish people, in Hebrew, which they surely won't even bother to read. Turns out, some "earthquakes" – or rather earth-shattering experiences – are less important.
The Israel Women's Network or the Forum Dvorah women's organization too thought the case did not warrant attention.
Another case that made headlines – and showed the cynicism associated with sexual abuse – was that of harassment allegations against the head of the Israel Bar Association Avi Himi.
Activists, feminists, and women on the left side of the political map, who usually automatically embrace victims of such crimes, suddenly questioned the allegations.
The victim was not embraced. Her claims were ridiculed. She was accused of malintent. Even Tamar Zandberg and Zehava Galon, who in the past immediately responded to sexual allegations against officials under their authority, kept quiet.
Looking at these cases, one cannot help but see that cases of sexual harassment and abuse are exploited by lawmakers on both the Right and Left based on the political mood.
Instead of seeing the victim's pain, suffering, and helplessness, each camp uses the story to benefit or undermine the opposing camp.
When sexual abuse becomes a political game, the struggle against it becomes tainted.
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