|
IDF: 358 soldiers made sexual harassment complaints in 2004
By Gideon Alont
January 25, 2005
Israel Defense Forces soldiers made 358 complaints of sexual harassment in
2004, a rise of 3 percent from the year before, Brigadier General Devora Hasid,
the IDF chief of staff's advisor on women's issues, said Monday at a meeting of
the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of Women.
According to IDF data, 95 percent of women soldiers who complained of sexual
harassment were completing their national service, as were 49 percent of those
about whom complaints were made.
Hasid told the committee that last year an investigation was launched into the
actions of an officer with the rank of colonel, and two others with the rank of
lieutenant colonel.
Among the complaints, there were 14 by male soldiers regarding sexual
harassment by other men; there were also four complaints of same sex harassment
by women.
Some 39 percent of complaints were made to the military police, while 28
percent were taken to commanders and 24 percent decided not to press charges.
The committee also heard testimony from a woman who had been gang-raped during
her military service six years ago.
"I was cruelly raped six months after my draft by three soldiers who served on
my base in the Home Front Command," said the women.
She told the panel that on the morning after she had been raped, she was
hospitalized in a psychiatric unit, and released from her military service 10
days later.
Comment on this story,
click here.
Copyright 1999-2004, AsianSexGazette.com. All rights reserved. No
content may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission.
Please contact us via the link below for re-print and syndication policies.
|
|
 |
