Chairman of the Histadrut Arnon Bar-David: “The issue of domestic violence must receive top priority on the government’s agenda to ensure a proper and adequately budgeted response to the problem that affects all of Israeli society.”
Your parents or your sister? This is the teaser widely disseminated over social media, the internet, and the advertisements in the print press over the weekend. The answer to this question is in a new campaign of the Histadrut in cooperation with Na’amat for the International Day of the Fight against Violence against Women, which will be marked on November 25. The campaign video will be broadcasted this evening (Sunday) on all the main television channels in Israel and will also be available in Arabic, Russian, Amharic, and English.
The video viewers see reality through a woman’s eyes as she surveys the people close to her at a routine family event. Whenever her gaze rests on someone in the room, we hear her thoughts about that person in the context of raising her children. The woman’s gaze and thoughts are disrupted suddenly by snapping fingers in front of her face, and behind the fingers, the face of an angry man who demands her attention is revealed. The viewers, exposed through the woman’s eyes to a seemingly everyday situation, are horrified to discover that the video’s heroine actually fears for her life and ponders who will raise her children if the worst happens. “When you live in a violent relationship, you can plan who will take care of your children the day after, or plan how you get out of it,” is revealed at the end of the video while referring to Na’amat’s counseling hotline – 9201. The Histadrut’s new campaign, in collaboration with Na’amat, is based on the painful insight that women trapped in a violent relationship sometimes stay in it out of fear for the fate of their children. However, reality shows that deciding to stay in such a framework could be disastrous for the woman and her children. Since the beginning of the year, 22 women have been murdered in Israel on gender-based grounds. In most cases, the suspect of the murder is a relative. According to official estimates by aid organizations in Israel, only a quarter of women who are victims of violence report it to the authorities. To break down one of the main barriers to dealing with the phenomenon, the Histadrut and Na’amat call on every woman in a violent relationship not to wait and reach out for assistance. At the same time as the campaign aired on television, and in coordination with the Histadrut, the Chairwoman of Na’amat, Hagit Pe’er, ordered to increase the activity of Naamat’s advice line (9201), which provides an anonymous, national, professional, and legal action, and helps women in crisis situations at the crossroads of change.
This is the third year in a row that the Histadrut is committed to promoting a national move on gender-based violence after the increase in cases during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Histadrut Chairman Arnon Bar-David: “The issue of domestic violence must receive top priority on the government’s agenda to ensure a proper and adequately budgeted response to the problem that affects the entire Israeli society. As the largest social movement in Israel, the Histadrut led by me will continue to allocate resources to increase awareness of the issue and to remind everyone that this violence is not a decree from heaven. Each and every one of us has the responsibility and the duty to do more to prevent the next murder. Na’amat’s hotline will be reinforced so that we can help as many women and men as possible who are exposed to violence in their family get out of this circle and get the necessary assistance.”
The Chairwoman of Na’amat, Hagit Pe’er : “The alarming trend of an increase in cases of violence as observed during the COVID-19 crisis did not disappear after we got out of the health crisis. In practice, many families today face economic pressures and new crises that only increase the risk of exacerbating explosive situations in the first place. It is important to emphasize that we are only exposed to the tip of the iceberg because nearly eighty percent of the victims do not report to the authorities at all and are afraid to seek help. The feeling of uncertainty and the fear of destabilizing that involve leaving a violent environment may sometimes discourage the woman from taking the first significant step of reporting and seeking help. The current campaign emphasizes how important it is to take this step and gives the address that can help. I hope the current campaign will help us make Na’amat’s counseling line accessible to as many women as possible who need it in all sectors of the population.”
The Chairman of the Histadrut’s information, advocacy, and publicity department, Yaniv Levy: “The campaign is designed to increase awareness of the severe consequences of domestic violence and to remind everyone who is in such a situation – that they are not alone, that there is someone who can help, and that the appeal To Na’amat’s hotline is an important first step that can save lives. In the previous campaign, we led on the subject, on the first evening of the broadcast, a young woman who was at high risk called *9201 on that evening, Na’amat’s professional women helped her get out of the violent environment and started a process with her that helped her get out of the cycle of violence.”
The campaign will be broadcasted In Israel this evening on channels 9, 12, 13, and 14. In addition, on 11/25, the International Day of the Fight against Violence against Women, and during the World Cup on Channel 11.