Report: 1 in 4 female Israel conscripts suffers sexual harassment

A recent report found that one in four female Israeli conscripts has suffered sexual violence, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Monday.

Yedioth Ahronoth said: “One out of four female conscripts in the prisons’ administration and the police has been subjected to sexual violence.”

The Israeli newspaper said that this came in a special report on the protection of female soldiers and conscripts in the units of the Israeli Ministry of Public Security by State Comptroller, Matanyahu Englman.

The report’s findings said 25 per cent of females performing their compulsory service, which usually begins at 18, have been subjected to sexual abuse.

“Some 22 per cent of conscripts serving in the police, 27 per cent of conscripts serving in the border guard and 38 per cent of conscripts serving in the prisons’ administration confessed that they had been harassed and sexually abused during their military service,” the report revealed.

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It also stated that “70 per cent of those who filed complaints reported that their complaints were not dealt with at all, or at least adequately.”

Around this time last year, Israeli media revealed that late Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, was accused by several women of sexual harassment.

Speaking to Haaretz, a veteran diplomat and former Labour MK, Colette Avital, accused Peres of sexually harassing her twice.

In the first incident, Avital said that Peres pushed her against a wall and tried to kiss her without her consent.

The second incident, she said, happened when Peres invited her to have breakfast in his hotel room while on a diplomatic mission in France and tried to push her onto the bed.

In the same context, Avital’s confession made another anonymous woman come forward on Channel 12 and accuse Peres of sexually harassing her.