Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Almost 50% of secular Israeli and 68% of Arab children have been abused

YNET     A total of 1,273,804 Israeli children experienced abuse, violence or neglect, data released on Tuesday suggest. According to a study peformed by the Israel National Council for the Child (NCC) and the Haifa University, every other child in a Jewish state school or Arab school has been subjected to some form of harm. However the study did not include state-religious and ultra-Orthodox education systems.

The data indicate a troubling reality of an overwhelming gap between the information available to authorities of 50,000 reports of child abuse a year, and the real scope of abuse and neglect.[...]

The study, which was conducted over the course of three years, is the first of its kind ever to be conducted in Israel and is one of the most comprehensive studies on child abuse worldwide. The researchers examined direct testimonies in a national polling sample of 8,239 Jewish children and 2,274 Arab children.

The findings indicate that half of Jewish children in public schooling (48.5%) reported they experienced some form of violence, including physical, emotional or sexual harm, as well as neglect. The situation in the Arab sector reveals a grimmer reality: More than two thirds of children (67.7%) reported some form of harm. According to NCC estimates, 540,390 children in the Arab sector have experienced a form of abuse.

The study further reveals that the most common abuse is emotional, mainly defined as parental cruelty, which is repeated systematically and distorts the sense of identity and esteem of 730,139 children. The report shows 399,212 Israeli children have suffered emotional neglect; 370,322 suffered physical violence; and 225,870 were exposed to domestic violence. 


The data indicate a significant gap between the number of reports to the authorities and the number of children who first-handedly attested abuse. In 2012, only 48,992 reports regarding suspected child abuse and neglect were filed. These finding reveal that the reports refer to 1.9% of all children. This figure stands against the finding that shows that 48.5% of all children reported that they experienced a form of abuse and harm. The meaning: Welfare authorities and police are unaware of the scope of the phenomenon. [...]

2 comments :

  1. "Almost 50% of secular Israeli and 68% of Arab children have been abused"

    Baruch Hashem among frum families it is nowhere even close to these shocking numbers.

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  2. What are the specific definitions of abuse? Little Moshe wants to go out to play, father says no and grabs him by the hand to prevent him from walking out the door. Is the refusal to allow him to play outside emotional abuse? Is grabbing his hand physical abuse?
    When I was in undergrad a similar study came out claiming that 75% of women had been emotionally or physically abused by male students but when you read the definition of abuse it was laughable. Says "Well, I'm not going to go on another date with you because you look funny" was in the same category as actual emotional attacks.

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