19 May 2023; MEMO: An Israeli army officer serving as a captain was arrested on Wednesday on charges of raping a female officer, reported the Times of Israel.
The officer, whose name has not been made public, will remain in custody until Tuesday when an investigation will confirm if he is suspected of "serious sex offences."
The Israeli female officer, who filed a complaint with the Military Police, said the sexual abuse took place several months ago, during a trip with officers of the unit.
According to the latest report by the Association of Rape Crisis Centres in Israel (ARCCI), published last year, there were 4,521 sexual offence and sexual harassment cases investigated by the prosecutor's office in 2020. However, in 2021, the figure was down to 4,218. Similarly, the report noted a lower number of indictments being filed for sexual offences in 2021, down to 717 from 744 in 2020.
Moreover, just under 90 per cent of sexual offence cases involving Israeli army officers were opened but later closed without charge. The occupation army reported an 82 per cent increase in complaints about sexual offences since 2016.
"Israeli society is a society bathed in sexual violence, and women pay a difficult and heavy price for it," ARCCI Executive Director Orit Sulitzeanu told the Jerusalem Post. "One of the reasons for this is the fact that in Israel, many organisations derive organisational norms from the military, which is a hierarchical, masculine and, of course, militaristic organisation."
