Lt. Col. Dan Sharoni
A series of rape cases have recently taken place in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
Israeli Lt. Col. Dan Sharoni was dismissed of his duties in the Israeli Defence Forces, following his arrest on suspicion of committing sexual offenses and invasion of privacy two weeks ago.
Sharoni allegedly filmed female soldiers using hidden cameras on several Israeli bases where he served. Moreover, female civilians were also allegedly among his victims. At least 15 women are complainants against him.
As soon as criminal proceedings were launched, the head of the IDF Technology and Logistics Division, Major General Michel Yanko, has signed a dismissal of Sharoni from his position of a commander of a military driving school on the Bahad 6 base.
Another IDF soldier, who serves in the Iron Dome air defense units, was arrested for raping a female soldier at a military base about two week ago. The soldier is suspected of committing rape, indecent acts and other acts of violence, the IDF said. His name was not officially revealed, likely because the investigation is still under way and his guilt is yet to be proven, but the soldier was detained.
The Israeli military officials commented on the issue, claiming that the IDF takes all sexual harassment very seriously and will continue to pursue a policy of zero patience towards perpetrators. However, it seems that all their attempts to fight the sexual harassment in military ranks have no results, as the IDF has a very high level sexual assault and rape cases in thr mixed male-female units.
According to an internal IDF survey, it was found that 1 of 6 female soldiers declared that she had been sexually harassed during her service; while 6% said that they had been harassed two or three times and another 3% responded that they had been harassed four times or more.
Illustrative image
About a month ago, hackers believed to be linked to Iran breached an Israeli LGBT dating site and released some personal information online.
A geo-located dating service Atraf is popular in the Israeli LGBT community, especially in the Tel Aviv area. Following the attack, personal data, like names and locations, of thousands of Atraf users, including the high-ranking Israeli military and government officials were posted online.
Tacking into account the recent leak that revealed the large number of Israeli gays and such a high level of sexual harassment cases, not only female IDF soldiers are in rape danger today, but male officers should also be alert.
