'Systemic, ongoing failure': Over 80% of sex offense cases in Israel closed

Although the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel received 17,484 new complaints of incidents of sex offenses in 2023, just 6,405 cases of sex offenses and sexual harassment were opened by police in 2023, according to the ARCCI’s 2023 yearly report.

The types of complaints made to police and the ARCCI were also different, further highlighting the potential underreporting of sex offenses to law enforcement.

The most common type of offense ARCCI complaints were made about was incest, representing 36% of all complaints. When looking at complaints made about crimes against children, 70% were about incest. The next most common offense type was rape, composing 28% of complaints.

When looking at complaints made to police, however, the majority were made about indecent acts, with sexual harassment being the second most common offense.

In 11% of complaints made to the ARCCI, the offender was the victim’s parent; in 25% of cases, it was another relative; and in nearly 20% of complaints, the perpetrator was a friend or acquaintance of the victim. Only in 8% of cases was the culprit a stranger to the victim.

In cases reported to the police, parents were the offenders in just 3% of cases, and strangers were named as the perpetrators 34% of the time, further highlighting different patterns of complaints when victims turn to crisis centers versus authorities.

Patterns differ from police to crisis centers 

“Complaints to police tend to deal more with offenses by farther circles when compared to complaints made to crisis centers,” the report stressed.

The past three years have seen a moderate increase in the number of men and boys reporting sex offenses to police – a trend that may indicate an increased willingness to report sex offenses against men, historically underreported due to the harsh stigma surrounding these offenses.

Just 11% of complaints made to police came from a non-Jewish victim, showing significant underrepresentation when compared to the Arab sector’s portion in society, the report said.

The ARCCI report also included data on accusations of sex offenses made against police. While 133 complaints about sex offenses by police were made to the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigations Department, 66% did not reach an investigation stage, the report said.

The majority of these complaints, 77, were about sexual harassment, and the next most common offense reported, 37, was an indecent act.

In sexual harassment cases, 88% of complaints did not reach investigation by the PID. ARCCI head Orit Sulitzeanu called this infuriating, saying it “indicates there is reason to be concerned about what is happening within the system itself.”

The report also gave an overview of data on sex offenses that made it to Israel’s prosecutor and court system. In a 7% increase from the year prior, 4,823 cases were opened by Israel’s prosecution.

The majority of these cases were opened for indecent act offenses, with 663 indictments issued against 675 suspects, the report added, and 81% of cases were closed.

“As with every year, most cases were closed due to a lack of evidence,” the report said, adding that 43 were closed due to the statute of limitations.

The statistics presented in the report paint a troubling picture of “the flawed handling of sexual violence by the law enforcement system,”  Sulitzeanu said.

“Closure rates of over 80% of sexual offense cases indicate a systematic and ongoing failure of the system,” she added.

A total of 87% of complaints received by the ARCCI regarded offenses against women, while 13% were committed against men.

Just 41% of complaints received were about offenses against those over 18, 28% were against girls and boys aged 12 and under, and 31% were against those between ages 13 and 18. The perpetrator’s gender was male in 98% of cases reported to the ARCCI.