A score of feminists protested here yesterday against what they charged was a cavalier attitude toward rape by the authorities and the society in general. The women marched with placards, distributed leaflets and staged a play on downtown King George St.
They demanded that social workers and psychologists be on duty at every police station to extend aid to rape victims and that only women police officers interrogate them. The feminists said that the police do not seem to regard “rape as a serious crime” and charged that they often take the attitude that the complainant encouraged the suspect.
A Tel Aviv woman recently sent IL 1000 to the Premier’s office to help create a governmental unit that would follow up rape cases and try to reduce that crime. The woman said she was prompted by newspaper reports of a girl who was raped by three men after she was kidnapped at the Petach Tikva bus terminal. “It occurred to me that my daughter cannot walk safely in the bus station anymore,” she said. While the demonstrations were under way, two more rape cases were reported in Jerusalem.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
