Yesterday, the case of the Israeli men accused of raping a 19-year-old British tourist on Cyprus took an abrupt turn. As I reported earlier, police had accused 14 youth with either participating in, or watching the rape of a woman at a hotel. The authorities released a narrative summary of the incident and named the suspects, which I reported. Police reported that they had DNA evidence from the victim’s body which documented that at least six of the men had sexual relations with her. Those who were alleged to have watched and/or videotaped the incident were eventually returned to Israel without charges being filed against them.
But yesterday, stories originating with the suspects’ defense lawyer claimed the woman had fabricated the charges, that she would be arrested, and that all the remaining detainees would be freed. Since these Israeli media reports only offered the lawyer as a source, I discounted them as typical bluffing by defense attorneys the world over, to put forward the most positive view possible of their clients to the public.
But shortly after these stories were published in Israel, European news outlets offering anonymous Cypriot police sources confirmed many of these claims. It now appears that the purported victim has been arrested for filing a false police report. The suspects have been freed. And what we’re finding now is, as the British would say, a right mess.
None of this means that the suspects behaved decently or honorably. How many teenage boys do you know who would have group sex with a woman and film it on their smartphones? So though there will be celebrations in Israel on the release of “their boys,” they aren’t entirely in the clear:
Relatives of the Israelis celebrated their release, singing, “Our father in heaven, how good is God,” in footage broadcast on Israel’s Channel 12 news on Sunday afternoon.
They were essentially a male wolf pack in Cyprus on the prowl for their share of women’s bodies. They took what they could get and turned it into a humiliating spectacle. This is not the way any man should treat a woman. No, what they did didn’t fit the authorities’ definition of rape. But it was reprehensible nonetheless.
Not to mention the prospect that the woman may’ve been inebriated when she supposedly “consented” to having sex. It is very difficult to say a woman who is drunk can consent under such circumstances.
Right now, in Israel you can see the videos these scumbags recorded online of their sexual conquest in a Cyprus hotel room. By the way, all their apologists–circulating such a video without the consent of the victim is a criminal offense under Israeli law. Will the police investigate? Why should they? They’re “our boys” and we’re proud of ’em, right?
Returning to the dismissal of the charges, we don’t know what happened in the case of the woman whose story the police eventually discounted. What were the discrepancies that led them to change their minds about the incident? Did they feel merely they could not make the case against the Israelis? Or did they feel something more sinister was involved such as the woman attempting to get revenge on them for some unspecified reason? Was she troubled or mentally unwell?
I want to raise another possibility for which I currently have no supporting evidence. Israel and Cyprus have close relations. They are both developing oil and gas fields in the Mediterranean. There have been business deals between Israelis and Cypriots and government-to-government negotiations about how to proceed in developing these lucrative properties. Neither side would want an incident such as this to sour relations. Given Netanyahu’s proclivity to make under the table deals (many of them corrupt) with everyone and his brother, it’s entirely within the realm of possibility that such an arrangement was negotiated to resolve this case.
If you are a woman contemplating a Mediterranean vacation, be aware of such Israeli men on the prowl. Either avoid Cyprus entirely, or avoid such encounters with them while there.
Finally, the worst part of this case is the impact it will have on other women who are real victims of sexual violence. Now, all the Israeli men who flooded the comment threads here and my Twitter timeline can say regarding any rape claim: remember Cyprus? How can you trust she’s telling the truth? This is a terrible disservice to such women.
In the past, I’ve regularly reported on cases of women raped by Israeli men. I do this because sexual violence is but one of the many ills afflicting Israeli society. I have never had an incident in all my reporting in which the police investigated and discounted the victim’s account as false. There have been cases in which the police refused to prosecute for lack of enough evidence. This is a first and I hope not to see it happen again, not just for my sake as a journalist.
NOTE: While these two posts on this incident have generated lots of site traffic, many of those who are reading them are posting virtually the same comments excoriating me for supposedly destroying the men’s’ reputations and behaving in an atrocious fashion. I’ve also been accused of prowling the internet seeking “Zionist rapists.”
This is a warning that there are so many of these comments, and they’re virtually the same. I am only publishing comments of this sort if there is something particular in them I want to address. Otherwise, you can get a flavor of them by the ones I have published. There is no reason to publish 30 comments saying the same thing. So if you’re inclined to do so, know that it’s unlikely I will publish such comments. Anyone wishing to comment on this subject with some other point to make should feel free to do so.
Last link. This says it all and proves the group planned the rape in advance. I can’t believe this evidence was dismissed. At least one of the guys seems to have a conscience.
link to google.nl
link to google.nl
Wow. The police changed other testimonies as well. I expect a whistleblower to come forward at some point, revealing Israeli pressure. The poor accused boys have friends in high places it seems.
link to thetimes.co.uk
This case stinks to high heaven. This will not be the end of it. And what to think by the way of guys who pop champagne bottles chanting” the Brit is a whore” and “Am Israel chai” when they arrived back in Israel. So if you take action if they rape you that is an anti-Semitic attack on Am Israel. These are supremacist thugs.
link to google.nl
link to google.nl
Hopefully all involved criminal boys will be punished accordingly. Looks like it is going to be due to the latest development, and nothing will save this gang and their parents. But I would like to see the parents of this gang to be punished as well as only stupid and irresponsible people would allow minors to go anywhere without a supervision.
The footy player should be prevented completely to play football or represent Israel anywhere as he is the disgrace to Israel.
Don’t know enough about the case to say if she made it up, and have not seen the video. But since such cases are very, very rare regardless of what a lot of men are trying to make us think, it is very likely that she did not just fabricate this. Lack of evidence alone is not proof of lying and a stereotyping victims is not proof either.
Also, posting videos of this sexual encounter, without her consent is also a crime and should be prosecuted,. She should be given the same due process the men were given and perhaps her case will be thrown out too for lack of evidence.
You are right to warn women about going to Cyprus and to avoid Israeli men while in a very politically and economically Israel backed are, when justice can be so difficult to achieve for a women in such cases
Thanks for this article. It was very brave of you to tackle this topic..
@Richard
I’m very sorry, but I don’t believe that I was smearing anyone. I’d only intended to report the news.
If there was any smearing, it was you smearing Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Cypriot Prosecutors Office, a smear which you’ve made without any proof proffer of evidence.
But anyway.
What is the name of the British woman’s British attorney? I wasn’t aware she had a British attorney or barrister.
In the article I linked, it said that the Cypriot judge, had ‘approved lawyer Andreas Pittadjis’ request to quit, and adjourned the case until August 19 to give the woman time to find a new lawyer.”
So… who is this British attorney that you are speaking of?
According to the BBC, “the woman was tearful after her lawyer handed her the case file and exited the Famagusta District Court”.
link to bbc.com
Again, to be clear, I’m just reporting the facts and I’m not smearing anyone.
I would just like Justice to be served and I don’t give a fig whether the British woman or the Israelis got to prison.
BTW, I’m a retired defense attorney and I welcome your efforts to enlighten me on Criminal Procedure.
@ Crimson:
You mean no evidence except the British barrister who laid out his claim that the police forced her to recant. That is quite a credible form of evidence I’d say. YOu may not like the claim or evidence. But it is precisely that.
News accounts refer to the legal counsel for Victims Abroad, a British barrister who laid out her new legal strategy and defense. I presume that this conflicted with the approach the Cypriot lawyer had already laid out, which is why he withdrew. No doubt Victims Abroad will either represent her or find her a new lawyer to do so.
As for smearing, you have smeared the victim. Do not smear rape victims. That is unconscionable. But what a criminal defense attorney would do, unless she was your client. Which thankfully for her, you will not be.
What I said to you had nothing to do with “criminal procedure.” And your attempt at snark falls abysmally flat. So knock that off as well.
Do not comment further in this thread.
@ Richard Silverstein: Nowhere did I suggest that there’s not underreporting of sexual violence in Israel, or that it wasn’t “massive.” I simply asked if you had any basis for your suggestion that the problem was either unique to Israel or substantially worse there than in other developed countries. Your reply was unresponsive to that question, except to the extent you told me to do my own research.
@ Chen:
I never said rape was ‘unique to Israel.’ And don’t you even dare to go near putting those words in my mouth. And be much more careful about what you claim I’ve said in future.
Since you are making the claim that sexual violence in Israel is comparable to other western democracies, you prove it. It’s not my job to do your job for you.
Do not comment further in this thread.
Lawyer for British woman quits case because he has “serious differences” with his client.
link to ynetnews.com
@Crimson:you clearly don’t understand how legal cases and representation works. The Cypriot lawyer was hired to defend her, based on the narrative that she willingly manufactured her rape claim.
Now a British lawyer has been hired and has an entirely different theory of the case: that she was forced against her will to recant. Naturally the other lawyer now has to withdraw. You can’t argue two contradictory cases in defense of one client. But nice trying attempting to smear the victim.
@ RIchard Silverstein: “𝐈𝐧 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥, the vast majority of sexual assault cases are not reported at all.” Are you suggesting that this is not the case in other developed countries or that underreporting of sexual violence in Israel is more severe than in other developed countries? If so, can you point to any data or reputable source establishing either?
@ Chen: From the Assoc. of Israel Rape Crisis Center:
That means that only one in 7 women who report a rape to a crisis center go farther and report it to police. That makes 6 out of 7 who don’t go to the police. Is that “massive” enough for you? But what about the women who don’t think to report it to the crisis center? Or who don’t even know there is such a resource? Or who are too intimidated by ongoing male violence to do so? Or too confused about what happened to think to do that? That’s the vast majority of women.
If you have a further question or disbelieve that statistic, I strongly suggest you can do the research yourself to answer your own question. I have done it.
But based on who you are and your past history here, I’d say both that you’re being disingenuous in refusing to believe my claim; and that you are more than capable to do that research yourself. Your refusal to believe the obvious fact that Israeli women decline to report cases of sexual violence in massive numbers is in itself a perfect example of rape denialism among Israeli males.
Further, in a misogynist, male-dominated society like Israel women are severely discouraged from reporting crimes of violence. Police are loathe to believe women who do report this. And prosecutors are equally loathe to prosecute because of their own male prejudices and because they know how difficult it is to obtain convictions. And many rapists are wealthy and powerful and can obtain well connected lawywers to defend them, and put the burden of proof on the accuser through intimidation, slut-shaming, etc. This is precisely what happened in Cyprus because the accused rapists had the full weight of Israel and powerful lawyers on their side.
According to Haaretz the British woman says she was threatened by the Cypriot police and a retraction was dictated to her…
why aren’t you exposing her name too?
@ Joe: you approve of exposing possible take victims publicly, do you
? What kind of sick soul are you??
“But in a very short time yours has committed enough of these to last several lifetimes of any other country.”
Really? A-bomb on Japan? Vietnam? Nicaragua? Iraq?
Where someone wants to live is a personal decision. You must also be aware that in general, migrations follow a gradient of economic opportunities. In most cases it has less to do with politics and more about career. Emigration from Israel is far smaller than it used to be, and nobody is leaving because of violence. And there are millions of US emigres around the world.
I actually don’t even know why I am moderated. As far as banning me, before doing so consider the following. I am one of your more articulate adversaries here. I don’t disrespect you or other comment writers. I don’t insult you or troll. I don’t flood you with comments. And while i do say some things that you consider politically incorrect (and thus I must have violated some rule), I confront you only with facts.
Regarding a blog, I have dabbled but didn’t consider it worth the time investment. I wouldn’t blog about America for the very reason I mentioned in my previous comment. I live in Israel and therefore feel it is wrong to tell Americans what to do. But perhaps I will start a blog about Israel when I retire. As you know blogging can be time consuming.
@ DrS: Don’t respond further in this thread.
Yeah, like the 1948 Nakba expelling 1-million non-Jewish residents of Palestine. 1956 when you joined Britain and France in stealing the Suez Canal from Egypt. Or 1967, when you launched a pre-emptive attack to commence the war. Or every war and invasion since (too many to count). And those 40,000 Arabs your country has killed since 1948, those are some bad-looking numbers.
My duty is not to defend America. So stop with that bullshit. No one here is defending America. And again, though you keep trying & failing to make that my job, I’m not going to bite. Because I’m always going to come back to what my job is. That’s the job you hate me for. And the one I love to feel your hate for.
Yup. Those 1-million Palestinians expelled from Israel left voluntarily looking for “economic opportunities.” And the thousands of Palestinians Israel has denaturalized and explled since. They’re looking for that goose that laid the golden egg too. Oh, and boy are they careerists. You wouldn’t believe how ambitious they are.
That’s nonsense. Emigration has been a constant throughout Israel’s existence. During economic crises it gets worse and during boomtimes it gets less bad. But the Israeli population in America continues to increase and will always do so. And no, they don’t only leave for economic reasons or fear of bullets. Often they leave because they can’t stand what their country has become. They can’t stand the corruption. They can’t stand the lying. They can’t stand the violence both internal/domestic and external. They leave because they want their children to have a future free from being fodder for the garrison state. That, btw, is one of the reasons I never seriously considered making aliyah myself (there were others, of course, but it was an important one).
That’s not saying much. You can write a sentence. And you’re using that as a selling point?
Nonsense. You confront me with opinions masquerading as facts. Just look at your own comment above and note how many opinions you stated as fact without offering any evidence whatsoever.
No, I urge you start one now. Or I will call you a goddamn hypocrite every time you try to tell me what I should be doing here. But I do have to say that if you do start a pro-Israel, it won’t be hard to improve over the current competition. They’re almost universally awful.
I understand that this blog is about Israel and that you focus like a laser on every societal injustice and magnify it like Israel is some outlier.
Yet I can’t help but point out an irony here.
As we speak, a few more dozen Americans are getting slaughtered in another mass shooting.
I used to be a proud American ex-patriot. But no more.
The United States is the only advanced country in the Western world that is still arguing about such basic things as health care, gun control, taxation, and abortions. Every other civilized country (including Israel), have put these things behind them. Nobody else talks about it anywhere, other than in the US. They are simply non-issues except among Americans. The influence of money on politicians, along with the tribal political paralysis, utterly prevents the great United States of America from solving these problems.
It is utterly incredulous that the US is unable to solve its gun violence problem, which every year claims FAR more victims (about 40,000 deaths) than the Israel-Palestinian conflict. To us outsiders, Americans look like helpless idiots or greedy profiteers.
So why don’t you take a pause from wagging your accusing finger at us about how violent we Israeli men are and take a look at your own countrymen.
Maybe you could use your considerable rhetorical skills to convince of few of them to give up their so called right to buy assault weapons at their local Walmart
And along the way tell them that they could get rational, affordable health care for everyone if they only wanted to.
Maybe they could learn a thing or 2 from other countries (although it seems many Americans are ignorant about anything non-American).
And maybe you could also explain to them the correlation studies that demonstrate the decrease in crime that occurred over decades following the legalization of abortions, which reduced the number of unwanted children.
@DrS: I have a great idea for you: start your own blog wagging your finger at all of America’s shortcomings and join one of a million such blogs.
Meanwhile, I’ll stay here doing important work no one else is doing.
And if you ignore my advice about starting your own blog and continue coming back here to carp and whine, then I’ll know you’re a friggin’ hypocrite.
By the way, with all the grave injustices and inadequacies of the American system, I’ll take it any day of the week over yours. Your country is 75 years old. Mine three times as old. Yours has 7 million people. Mine 50 times as much. Yes, mine has committed grave injustices and great sins. But in a very short time yours has committed enough of these to last several lifetimes of any other country. Not something to be proud of. By the way, a million other former Israelis feel the same way about my country or they wouldn’t have emigrated here.
Don’t you DARE exploit the memory of dead people killed by the exact same racial animus infecting your country. By killers who in fact admire your country for its hated of Islam. Don’t you fucking dare.
And finally, if I need your advice about what to write about I”ll ask. I didn’t. So don’t.
You are already moderated. Next step is banning. Give me a reason. Please…
[comment deleted: you are now banned. It’s interesting that dipshits like you manage to avoid curses and sexual insults until they are moderated. Then they let loose with the scatalogical shit. You’re a pathetic loser. And what the hell are you doing with Belarus IP addresses? Unless you’re using a proxy server, which people like you often do. Don’t bother to answer the question. I just want those who read the comment threads to know about how people like you operate.]
@Theo
@Christina
The video is the truth.
if the video shows a girl being restrained, or insensate, while young men force themselves on her, then it’s rape.
If the video shows a girl on top, and riding young men, and enjoying herself, than it’s not rape.
The Cypriot police investigators have seen videos taken off of cell phones, and have released all twelve of the accused and have arrested and indicted the young British women.
Have I missed something?
Do you know something about the integrity of the Cypriot police and prosecutors that we don’t?
If you do, this is the time to tell the world.
BTW. If my son was falsely accused of a crime, and faced 20 years of beatings and ass rape in a Cypriot prison, you bet I’d be celebrating his exoneration and freedom.
Wouldn’t you?
@ P Spot: Sorry fella. But until you become a woman, get raped, have a daughter or spouse who was raped, or reported on 20 different instances in which Israeli women have been raped–you don’t get to define what’s real rape and what’s faux rape.
If your daughter was raped and the police arrested her and she returned home, you wouldn’t be celebrating would you, asshole.
It’s repulsive that you have appointed yourself judge and jury in this matter.
Do I know something about the integrity of Cyprus? Sure I do. It’s one of the more corrupt countries in Europe. Transparency International ranks it 19th among all European countries for corruption. Take a look at how riddled with corruption their dysfunctional banking system is.
That’s it. Your absolute hasbarist brutishness is repulsive. I can’t stand it any longer. YOu are moderated. If you choose to comment I will approve comments I don’t find offensive, misogynist or morally repugnant.
That doesn’t leave you much territory given your past track record.
It’s proven fact that the testimony of rape victims is not always 100% reliable due to the trauma of the rape, or such things as inebriation. However, if DNA evidence puts these men at the scene, and video evidence confirms the “acts”, why are they not in jail?
Though the argument that their release is a dirty deal between Bibi and the government of Cyprus (highly likely), there is an equally strong relationship between Britain and Israel. Though I think that one rape victim isn’t worth a lot to British Parliamentarians.
This whole thing smells rotten, and is standard fare where the victim is has to PROVE that she IS a victim.
While everyone is celebrating the release of these young men so their lives won’t be ruined, what gets lost, always, is that now the victim’s life IS ruined.
Arrogant shits comes to mind. If one of them was my son I would be deeply ashamed not singing about God.