Students complain about teacher accused of sex offense on TikTok
Yotam Okon, a science teacher in a Tel Aviv school, was removed from his position several months ago after the school administration received complaints against him of Sex offenses.
By EVE YOUNGSTUDENTS RETURN to school in Tel Aviv last month.(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)
New accusations surfaced against a teacher who is suspected of sex offenses against a 12-year-old student, as students took to the social media platform TikTok to share their experiences with the teacher, Israeli media reported Thursday.The school was also apparently previously made aware of inappropriate behavior on the part of the teacher, as educational staff were approached on four separate occasions, Kan reported Thursday. The teacher, 37-year-old Yotam Okon, was a science teacher in a Tel Aviv school and was removed from his position several months ago after the school administration received the initial complaint against him.Following his arrest two weeks ago, police found that he had conducted numerous sexual conversations with his 12-year-old student on WhatsApp, and had asked her for explicit photographs and videos over the messaging app as well.More than a quarter (28.7%) of victims of sexual offenses reported in 2019 to the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCCI) were under the age of 13 (and 62% were under age 18).Some 7.6% of offenses reported to the ARCCI in 2019 occurred in Israel’s education system and yet it does not do enough to teach about healthy sexuality and safety, CEO Orit Sulitzeanu told The Jerusalem Post in March."We flatly deny that past complaints were made to any school staff," the school told Kan. "Quite the opposite, as soon as the school was made aware of concrete information, it acted immediately and according to protocol."
