Something is wrong, very wrong. A Knesset member and former police officer has been accused of beating his wife on November 16, 1996. The victim has subsequently withdrawn her police complaint, but the hospital evidence of a battered woman remains. The history of Israel's response to domestic violence is shameful at best and down right criminal at its worst. It must be taken into account that nearly all cases in which a husband has murdered his wife through domestic violence, at least one police complaint had been previously filed by the murdered woman. A Knesset report concerning the deaths of these women at the hands of their spouses has concluded that if the complaints of the battered women were acted upon properly, the lives of many, if not all, of these victims could have been saved.

A further indicator of the perversity of current situation is that accused wife beater, MK Haim Dayan, sits on the Knesset Labor and Social Affairs Committee; the committee most logically responsible for the drafting of legislation on the issue of domestic violence. This is a clear signal of how the culture in Israel tolerates wife beating. That a former police officer now stands accused, unfortunatly speaks acurately about the manner in which the police deal with the crime. MK Dayan denies that he beat his wife, however, admits that he was verbally abusive toward her on the day in question.

In the five year period beginning in 1990 and ending in 1995, a total of 127 women were murdered by their husbands, partners, or relatives. In 1995, an estimated 200,000 married women were beaten. Additionally, according to the Israel Women's Network:

_ 10 percent of all married women in Israel have been beaten by their spouses.
_ Seven percent of these women are beaten consistently and systematically.
_ Each year, 40,000 women are brought to hospital emergency wards because of beatings.
_ Every year, police receive 9,000 complaints of beating by spouses.
_ 30,000 women appealed to Na'amat, the Histadrut women's organization, for help between 1984 and 1994. In the first 10 months of 1994, 1,200 women in Jerusalem appealed for help.
_ Among the 1,200 women, 46% were aged 26-35 and 35% aged 36-45 and 83% of all the victims had small children.

These statistics represent only those women willing to talk about what is considered an extremely embarrassing domestic problem.

Next week the Knesset will be debating legislation sent on by the cabinet regarding the prevention of domestic violence. The legislation is to help mark Family Violence Awareness Day. The remedy to this malignant malady lies in more than just new legislation or a court system willing to enforce stiff sentences for those committing violence in the home, though both of these actions would be the minimal effort required of the state. At the heart of the matter is the lack of respect for other human beings often fostered by the Israeli culture. Policemen unsympathetic to the plight of the individual, a nation of bureaucrats, uncaring of the next guy's needs are but a few of the sicknesses plaguing Israeli society. Family violence is a yardstick of the health of a nation. A very hard look at the causes of our self involvement and disrespect of fellow citizens might go a long way toward making right that which today is very wrong.
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