Tomorrow is the final day of April, which is also Sexual Assault Awareness month, we’d like to bring to your attention another disturbing story from Israel.
2 weeks ago the Israeli police arrested a prominent member of the Israeli academia, who specializes in sexual trauma. He even helped establish a center for treatment of sexual trauma in Southern Israel (Be’er Sheva) where he served as a counselor for many years.
His arrest came after a complaint was filed by his own daughter, who’s currently in her 20s, and who said that he has sexually abused her for years when she was a minor. She came forward because she feared that her younger sister, who is a minor, might be going through the same thing.
Stories of abuse and exploitation always stir anger, but when it’s someone who’s supposed to be our greatest protector, our ally during dark times, a parent, a man who made a career out of treating sexual trauma, the anger is even greater. Not only are his daughters facing this heart-crushing distress, but every patient he treated at the center is now going through the process of understanding that the man who was there to help them overcome their trauma has inflicted pain on others himself.
That’s why this battle is painful and everlasting – sometimes even the places and people who are meant to be our safe space, aren’t. Remember, there isn’t a set criteria of what makes someone an abuser. It can be anyone.
ELEM runs multiple programs to help young victims of sexual abuse, such as A Real Home and the Center for Treatment of Sexual Violence.
Visit our Areas Of Focus page to learn more.
