Military Police unlikely to press charges in IAF teen rape case

[Poll_Blind]

This is a breaking followup to this previous post in LBN. The 80 or so suspected statutory rapists and victim (a 13 year old girl) are all Israeli


From Ha'Aretz:

There is a growing likelihood that no one will be indicted in the case of the teenage girl who was serially raped on an Israel Air Force base in the south, since the Military Police have failed to turn up any evidence that the servicemen who had sex with her knew she was under the age of consent.

The army's chief prosecutor, Brigadier General Avihai Mandelblit, will decide whether to file indictments in the upcoming weeks, after reviewing the findings of the weeks-long Military Police investigation, which ended recently.

--snip--

During the investigation, military policemen questioned almost 200 soldiers, officers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs) at the base.

Of these, 81 were suspected of having slept with the girl, and 25 admitted to having done so. However, all 25 said they were unaware of her true age.

--snip--

  This has nothing to do with Israeli culture- most Israelis would probably like to see 80 pair of baitsim cut off for this. But this has everything to do with a military (and a predominately rightist one, at that) investigating itself for a sex crime against a child and giving itself a pass. I'd been following the case because, frankly, the sheer number of rapists in this case is breathtaking and the crime occurred over two years (starting when she was 11). The defense "she looked old for her age" is really stretching when we're talking about an 11 year-old girl.

  I urge you to please take 2 minutes and write a quick e-mail to The National Council for the Child asking them to use the resources at their disposal to defend this child's rights against a military willing to overlook such terrible treatment of a minor. They may be reached at [e-mail]. The military is an even stronger force in Israeli society than it is in America. It is my sincere hope that if letters of support are received from the United States (or where ever you happen to be reading this from) the international outrage against this crime will be known and the abusers will face justice.

PB

The Israeli Declaration of Children's Rights
(onEdit) Changed "rapists" to "statutory rapists" for those not already familiar with the case)

[Biernuts]

1. In any US State, making a mistake about the age of the girl

in a statutory rape case is not a defense. Does anyone know what Israeli law holds?

(The original post said that this was a statuatory rape, not a rape without consent case.)

[Poll_Blind]

4. I believe that 16 is the age of consent. I want to clarify, this is...

...about statutory rape, not rape without consent. However, I usually spend at least one day a week watching 4-8 children aged 2-12 and I can say that even the oldest or wisest of them have no ability to make anything near an informed consent, especially when we're talking about sexual relations with adults.

  I'm afraid that the military will have the "final word" on this, in the same way that investigations (IIRC) in the United States concerning military fall under the jurisdiction of the UCMJ.

PB

[Behind the Aegis]

5. You ask a very intelligent question.

I do not know what Israeli law states, but if they are dropping the case, it appears to be because the victim was complicit in the deception (telling the soldiers another age). In the US, I don't think it would matter. I believe, and legal experts can correct at will, that even if the child had said something else, the perps could still be charged. So, I don't know what to make of this case, at all!

[Poll_Blind]

6. The National Council for the Child would know more about other...

...laws which may be applicable outside of any military investigations which is why I hope at least a few e-mails get through to them to show support for their efforts to protect Israeli children. As I mentioned in another post, I know U.S. soldiers fall under the jurisdiction of the UCMJ and if there is a miscarriage of justice there, I'm pretty sure that other options in the regular U.S. legal system are limited.

  At least in Israel, stories like this get some light. Because of a national character focused on celebration of differences of opinion, controversial stories seem to fair a bit better than in the U.S. which has a much more restrictive press. If this happened in the U.S. I really feel that a story like this might not have seen the light of day...

Thank you!

PB

[Xithras]

9. It really depends on the jurisdiction.

In some areas, the courts don't care. If you sleep with an underage person, you go to prison. Many jurisdictions to apply a "reasonable belief" standard to it though. If the average person would have reasonably believed that the underage minor was telling the truth, the prosecution may be thrown out. It is not enough to cite the minors claim that they were of age, the defendant actually has to show where any "normal" person would have believed the claim to be true. If a flat chested, barbie playing 10 year old claims to be 18, no judge is going to believe that a reasonable person would put faith in that claim. If a 14 year old matures early and can clearly pass herself off as someone much older, the man may escape prosecution.

In some parts of the country, enforcement actually varies by county.

[Amy6627]

2. This broke my heart. I just sent my email. Thank you for bringing this

to our attention.

[itzamirakul]

3. This is disgusting! Absolutely disgusting! Somehow there is

ALWAYS an excuse. They couldn't tell how old she was. Yeah, right...

If the tables were turned and the raped child was from the other side...well....

[Erika]

7. Kicked and recommended n/t

[Xithras]

8. Well, as the father of a 12 year old....

I'd remove their nuts myself. That said:

I disagree with the people here who do not believe that this could have been accidental. My daughter has many friends in the 11-13 year old range who could easily pass themselves off as 16 or 17 if they wanted. My own daughter floored me recently when she dressed up for a birthday party and came walking out of her bedroom looking every part of 15 or 16 (I'm a mean dad, I made her change). While I am disgusted with the fact that more than 80 people slept with this girl, my opinion is that if the sex WAS consensual, WAS NOT coerced, and the girl DID lie about her age, then it would NOT be proper to charge them. When I was younger and single I slept with several girls who were underage after they lied about how old they were. It's not realistic to demand that people check ID's before sleeping with each other, and it's inhuman to imprison somebody for engaging in consensual sex with somebody they believed to be legal and of age.

The only real question here is whether these men had any indicators of her true age. If she looked 16, acted 16, and said she was 16, then it's not proper to charge anybody. If she looked 11, acted 10, and only claimed she was 16 when she was spreading her legs, then these men should go to prison for a long time. Without a photo of her it's kind of hard to judge.

[Poll_Blind]

11. I understand what you're saying...what concerns me is that...

...you have at least 25 soldiers who, how shall I say it, implied that she misled them into sexual relations. Soldiers are soldiers and somehow I have a feeling that they may all not have been the innocent dupes of her ploy to get them to have sex with her, to essentially quote their defense.

  I know you're not supporting their defense, but offering your own experience with younger girls who want to behave and receive the attention that "women" do. I also understand that girls develop more quickly than boys at similar ages. My girlfriend, for instance, had 36 DD breasts by the time she was 13 and probably could have passed for a very short 16 year old, especially because she was tall for most Latinas. Still, there are arguably elements of this case which should raise numerous red flags and questions, including those related to her home environment. I'm hoping that the NCC can apply whatever laws or mechanisms exist in this case to bring a more thorough investigation about, outside of the military legal structure which typically exists to rubber stamp whatever the military wants it to.

PB

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[eyl]

12. There's another problem compounding the lack of evidence

It's not mentioned in the article, but in the radio report I heard the girl's parents didn't want her to testify. Given that, and the rest, unless you can disprove the soldiers' claim her appearence led them to believe she was of age (which we can't do without information which will not be made public), I don't see how you can prosecute them (unless you're demanding the MPs adhere to throw out the "innocent until proven guilty" standard)

Ironically enough, if this hadn't been an Air Force base, or if she had been a soldier, everyone involved could have been hung out to dry on conduct unbecoming charges even without that evidence.

I should note that even if they did believe she was of age, this is still a serious problem.

As an aside, what's your basis for stating the IDF is "predominately rightist"? That certainly isn't my experience.