Knesset passes law removing custody for attempted rape and murder
"Until today, custody removal could only be requested at court. This law establishes custody removal as the default," said Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer.
By SARAH BEN-NUNActivists protest against recent cases of violence against women at Habima square in Tel Aviv on November 25, 2020. (photo credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/FLASH90)
A law removing the right to custody from a parent who attempted to murder or rape family members passed in the Knesset on Monday."Until today, custody removal could only be requested at court. This law flips the process, and establishes the custody removal as the default," said Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer, who heads the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality.Previously, barring requests, custody was only removed by default when a parent actually carried out the crime; this law will prevent parents who attempt to commit murder or rape a family member from having legal control over the life of the individual in question.Earlier this month, there was an incident where a man tried to murder his wife, and then stopped her from vaccinating their child, because he had the legal power to do so."This law should be redundant," said Labor MK Merav Michaeli, "that a parent who physically hurts the other parent, or the child, cannot possibly make decisions affecting that person."Forer mentioned Michal Sela, whose child is under the legal guardianship of her father, Eliran Malul, the same man who murdered Michal in front of their eight-month-old baby. Sela was 32 when she was killed.The law also includes the timeline for custody removal to take place: from the time of the indictment, custody will be temporarily revoked, and will solidify at the time of conviction.Pnina Tamano-Shata commended her fellow MKs for the care they put into the law and for passing it, adding that "Even so, there is much else to do. Because a scenario cannot exist where a man can murder his wife in cold blood and still retain 50% of the shared property.Added Michaeli, "The law, as it is currently formulated, prioritizes the victims, but it isn’t enough. More resources, more energy, need to be dedicated to treatment and healing.""There is so much more work to do, so much more to fix in our society until women will feel – and will be – safe," summed Tamano-Shata.
