The protest came in response to the murder of ten women, and one baby, since the beginning of 2020, with one occurring over the weekend in Ramat Gan.
"Discourse that seeks to justify violence against women should be stopped, in addition forgiving killers and blaming the victims," one LOTEM activist said.
The protesters also added that the incoming government should include the establishment of an anti-violence program, a particularly complicated task given the fact that the new government is already embarrassed by its bloated size, and as of now, no less than seven new government officials will deal directly with the phenomenon in one way or another.
But the rallying initiative, the LOTEM group said, that unites women from all over the country, is not only the government's failures as seen with some of the latest murders, but that violent offenders are free to harm women again without surveillance and without consequences,
Demonstrators are also protesting public discourse on the issue of gendered violence, which they say is felt mainly on social networks, where thousands of reactions from commentators with dark,chauvinistic views, both men and women, can also be encountered, as well as media discourse, which, they claim, allows for tolerance and even forgiveness for some of the killers.
From claims that the murder victim "must have betrayed him and not invested in the family", which appears on many social networks, to "she probably wanted to break up with him," the group notes that these claims come up primarily from the mainstream media towards women.
Other claims that blame the victims we have come across often start with the claim that the murderer may have been 'emotionally unstable,' or that it was a "psychotic attack."
"There is no justification for discourse that seeks logic and reasons for the murder of women and to echo this discourse in the media."
"The blood of women, our sisters, in this country is cheap, even in public discourse, representatives from LOTEM argued, adding that "we need to change the language in which society describes gendered violence."
The protesters, led by Einav Kagan, Hadar Gal, Or Biton and Ron Marx, gathered in Habima Square in Tel Aviv for the purpose of conveying to both the government, the media and the public a series of messages, stressing that "when we are murdered, we have no name, no identity."
"You were murdered. There are no proper government budgets to manage this, and as a result, women do not have security in the street, nor in their homes. The media is also responsible for public discourse, and for pressing the government to take action."
Accordingly, one of the key tasks of this huge, new government will be the establishment of the Ministerial Committee on Domestic Violence, the creation of which was decided upon three years prior. To date, less than half the budget decided on it has been passed to that end.
Due to the cumbersome government and the high number of senior positions, many ministers will be responsible for setting up the committees. For example, the new Minister of Public Security, Likud MK Amir Ohana, will be responsible for police surveillance of violent offenders. His deputy, Likud MK Gadi Yevarkan, will be responsible for addressing the issue of femicide among members of the Ethiopian Jewish community, along with Immigrant Absorption Minister Blue and White MK Pnina Tamano Shata.
Alongside this, Community Welfare Minister Orly Levi-Abekassis has been given responsibility for violence prevention, and has already announced that she is taking the issue seriously.
Justice Minister Blue and White MK Avi Nissenkorn, whose office is primarily responsible for the issues related to law and justice, has been promoting an electronic anklet program for tracking violent male offenders, while Labor MK and Minister of Welfare Itzik Shmuli will be required to coordinate between welfare services and the police, and work to increase the lack of response to victims of violence.
From the political opposition, Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg said that she has already scheduled an agenda on femicide to be debated on Wednesday at the Knesset as part of a parliamentary inquiry committee on the murder of women.
"A woman who is in mortal danger does not care about the [government] coalition and opposition. It is human life. I urge all the Knesset members to transcend politics and support my proposal," Zandberg said.