Are Israeli Children Less Worthy of Protection?
The Urgent Need to Upgrade Israel's Child Safety Laws
by: Rabbi Yakov Horowitz
Israel's has a richly deserved reputation as the world's "Start-Up Nation," brimming with innovation, start-up companies and venture capital investment.
For the sake of its children, Israel desperately needs to apply this creativity and energy to upgrade its child safety laws which are inexplicably far behind those of other advanced countries.
A 2015 Forward article points out gaping holes in the safety net that ought to be protecting Israel's children from sex offenders. "In the United States, sex offenders must contact the sex offender registry when they move (so that the community they're entering into can be notified) and not registering is a felony. The same is not true in Israel, where only the police have access to a list of offenders."
This is separate and aside from the fact that Israel far too often provides safe haven for (Jewish) sex offenders escaping to Israel from abroad under the Law of Return, and hardly ever deports them.
Both of these weaknesses converged recently when Yona Weinberg, a registered, sex offender moved from his apartment in Har Nof, Jerusalem according to the popularKikar HaShabbat Website. Weinberg fled to Israel to avoid being arrested by New York City police for an alleged assault on an 11-year-old boy, which occurred after he served time for his initial sex crimes.
To be perfectly honest, many Har Nof residents who were very anxious about the threat Weinberg posed to their kids when I gave a child safety class there last month, are breathing a sigh of relief now that Weinberg is no longer a neighbor of theirs.
But where did he move? Shouldn't the parents of that community be warned of his presence?
This scenario would be unthinkable in the United States, where registered sex offenders are carefully monitored,
must notify authorities when they move, and are not permitted to live near schools. In fact, it is common practice for American School Districts to issue email warnings when a registered sex offender relocates within the boundaries of their District.
Those of us who advocate for child safety and abuse prevention spent weeks, maybe months warning Har Nof residents of Weinberg's presence and training them in effective child safety education. This task is a challenging one anywhere, but in our Charedi community, where many families limit their Internet access for religious reasons, it is all the more vital and doubly difficult.
Just do give you an idea of how critical - and lifesaving - it is to notify parents when a sex offender moves into town, here is an email I received from a mother of young children in Har Nof on July 13th, 2016:
Dear Rabbi Horowitz:
I am a mother and very active member of the HAR NOF community. Within a
month of the Weinbergs arrival I was already inviting the whole family to our home. Thank G-d I was told, to be aware of the allegations!
I need to protect my children and deserve to know if someone in my neighborhood was prosecuted for such horrible offenses. We have a right to know!
I shudder to think of Weinberg getting "acclimated" in his new neighborhood under the radar, and horrified that Israel's child safety laws are so woefully inadequate.
In today's interconnected world, why isn't there a simple sex offender registry in Israel? Why are (Jewish) convicted sex offenders welcomed with open arms in Israel, and why aren't sex offenders carefully monitored?
Are Israeli children less worthy of protection than American kids?
There's a fine line between only protection, and it being punitive as well. There are many people who don't mind if it is also a bit punitive, and I'm guessing
ReplyDeleteIsrael is too obsessed with its imaginary war against Arabs to ever worry about its children. The nation's energy and resources all go to the military, which is the national religion. When 6 million people keep 4 million people in a military occupation - well that will sap all your energies.
ReplyDeleteyou are totally wrong. We here in Israel do in fact concern ourselves with issues other than the military and the Arabs. Your description of Israel have being preoccupied with controlling Arabs because they are Arabs - is ridiculous. I gather you would also claim that Israeli's are paranoid about security and if they just made all Arabs full citizens and allowed all Arabs who want to move to Israel and becomes citizens and the majority- then they would be loving neighbors and rulers?
ReplyDeleteIsrael is paranoid about security. There hasn't been a war in 40 years and we (I live here too) spend our days and nights talking as if we are in the middle of D-day. You have to either make the Arabs citizens or give them their own country. I'm not suggesting right of return and I'm not saying they are loving. But fear of them is wildly exaggerated Jewish paranoia. We do tend towards the hysterical. Since '48 there have been just 28 terrorist attacks a year. Before '68 there were 2.8 per year. We lose more solders to suicide (22 a year) than combat of any type and more to accidents as well. We lose ten times that many people to car accidents. Now my question is will you come back at me with facts or will you throw around personal attacks and words like 'nonsense' and 'ridiculous'?
ReplyDeleteI guess I live in a different country than you - that has not been my experience not anyone I have talked to in over 25 years of living here.. Not aware of anyone who considers the concern about the Arabs as mere paranoia or that there is no problem of granting them all citizenship. Bringing proof that there is paranoia from the success of a highly motivated defense force against the Arabs - is absurd. Yes this goes beyond mere differences of opinion.
ReplyDeleteYou believe that American law regarding mandatory registration for sex offenders to be punitive?
ReplyDeleteIf the only the US were as "paranoid" about security as Israel.
ReplyDeleteIt is unquestionably punitive. That was clearly stated in a court decision posted on this blog a couple of weeks ago. Here's the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://daattorah.blogspot.com/2016/08/court-voids-state-sex-offender-registry.html