A Jerusalem district court found a man guilty of rape for lying to get a woman to sleep with him (OK, there might not have been any sleeping, but it was consensual sex). The man — an Arab from Jerusalem — was sentenced to 18 months in prison for rape for falsely portraying himself to a Jewish woman as a Jewish man interested in a serious relationship. Haaretz reports:
In the verdict, deputy president of the Jerusalem district court Tzvi Segal, along with fellow judges Moshe Drori and Yoram Noam, wrote that although this wasn’t "a classical rape by force," and the sex was consensual, the consent itself was obtained through deception and under false pretenses.
"If she hadn’t thought the accused was a Jewish bachelor interested in a serious romantic relationship, she would not have cooperated," the judges wrote…
"The court is obliged to protect the public interest from sophisticated, smooth-tongued criminals who can deceive innocent victims at an unbearable price – the sanctity of their bodies and souls," Segal wrote.
"When the very basis of trust between human beings drops, especially when the matters at hand are so intimate, sensitive and fateful, the court is required to stand firmly at the side of the victims … otherwise, they will be used, manipulated and misled, while paying only a tolerable and symbolic price," he wrote.
What’s next? Jailing a guy at a bar who lies about what he does for a living to get into some woman’s pants? How about a woman who lies about her age to get a guy to sleep with her? Yes, the guy lied, but does that merit a rape conviction? Or does such severe punishment apply only to lies by Arab men about being Jewish?
This court decision seemingly puts anybody who has ever stretched the truth to get some nookie at risk of imprisonment in Israel.
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