Abused women, women's orgs. 'horrified' by MKs' comments on anti-abuse bill

"What the Members of Knesset said is horrifying," said Amalia, a mother of three who lives in a shelter for abused women. "It is horrifying that there are people like that who sit in the Knesset."

By EVE YOUNG
Sister of Michal Sela speaks at the Knesset committee's discussion on the rise of domestic violence during the coronavirus outbreak, June 22, 2020 (photo credit: KNESSET SPOKESPERSON'S OFFICE)
Sister of Michal Sela speaks at the Knesset committee's discussion on the rise of domestic violence during the coronavirus outbreak, June 22, 2020
(photo credit: KNESSET SPOKESPERSON'S OFFICE)
Women who have suffered financial abuse from their partners and women's organizations reacted with anger and horror to the criticism some MKs levied against a new bill to combat financial abuse at the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice committee meeting this week.
"What the Members of Knesset said is horrifying," Amalia, a mother of three who has lived in a shelter for abused women for three years, told N12. "They should go to a women's shelter," she went on to say. "It is horrifying that there are people like that who sit in the Knesset."
Politically Corret, a feminist news organization, compared reactions of the MKs opposed to the bill to reactions of MKs who were opposed to the bill that outlawed marital rape. "Reactions of this type came up when the bill to forbid a woman's rape by her husband came up in the 80s," the organization said in a Facebook post.
The committee met to prepare a bill that would include financial abuse as a form of domestic abuse and create tools and resources for those suffering from financial abuse.
Some objections voiced by MKs did not seem to recognize a systemic problem of financial abuse or were centered around the idea that the bill would give courts too much power and enable courts to be involved in private family matters.
"Maybe he [abused you financially] by not letting you buy NIS 10,000 worth of clothing. Or maybe you [financially abused] him by buying NIS 10,000 of clothing and leaving him broke, and he can't go to soccer games because of it," said MK Ariel Kallner (Likud).
"There is no doubt that there are unhealthy relationships between partners," said MK Bezalel Smotrich (Yamina). "It can be a man who is financially controlling and it can be a woman who puts the family in debt and 'watch out' if she can't buy something. [The law] is another tool in the war between the sexes and crazy squabbles that drive families and partnerships crazy and bring the court into these relationships."
MKs in favor of the bill said that current tools are not enough to address cases of financial abuse.
"There is financial abuse. They say that it is wrong for the state to be involved in this relationship but the state is involved where it sees wrongdoing. This is a groundbreaking law and changes the paradigms showing the violence is not just a physical force," said MK Yoav Segalovitz (Yesh Atid).
"Financial abuse is terror," said MK Keren Barak (Likud). "I have been exposed to women who go through this terror daily, sometimes in the top percentiles [of wealth], [financial abuse] crosses populations and is almost always accompanied by physical and sexual violence."

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Amalia is tied to her husband by debt for a loan that they took out together. "One of the reasons that women don't go to shelters is their financial situation [...] Even if I work, my paycheck would be claimed for the debt," She told N12. Amalia says she still fears her husband and finds it hard to suppress the thought he might come to find her, even though he is in jail.
A poll by Women's Spirit, an Israeli nonprofit that works to grant financial independence to abused women, showed that of 400 women affected by domestic violence, 70% are in debts the majority of which are the result of financial abuse.
The majority of those subject to this form of abuse are women suffering financial abuse from their partners, but financial abuse also impacts elderly parents abused by their children among other populations harmed by the occurrence, according to Walla! News.
The discussion occurred the day after two women were killed in Israel with their partners suspected in both cases. Protests broke out across the country with protesters demanding action and budgets from legislators to prevent further violence against women.
Tzvi Joffre contributed to this report.


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