An Arab-Israeli man has been convicted of rape by deception and sentenced to 18 months in jail for posing as an Israeli bachelor looking for a long term relationship - an act that consensually landed him in bed with a Jewish woman. When the woman later found out that he was not Jewish she filed for rape and indecent assault.
Handing down the verdict, Tzvi Segal, one of three judges on the case, acknowledged that sex had been consensual but said that although not "a classical rape by force," the woman would not have consented if she had not believed Kashur was Jewish.
The sex therefore was obtained under false pretences, the judges said. "If she hadn't thought the accused was a Jewish bachelor interested in a serious romantic relationship, she would not have cooperated," they added.
Segal said: "The court is obliged to protect the public interest from sophisticated, smooth-tongued criminals who can deceive innocent victims at an unbearable price – the sanctity of their bodies and souls. When the very basis of trust between human beings drops, especially when the matters at hand are so intimate, sensitive and fateful, the court is required to stand firmly at the side of the victims – actual and potential – to protect their well being. Otherwise, they will be used, manipulated and misled, while paying only a tolerable and symbolic price."
There is in my book so much wrong with this verdict its hard to know where to start. It seems to me that the biggest crime of this man was to act as a liar and a cad in order to get laid (That is not acceptable behaviour ever but sadly too often par for the course in relations between the sexes. Men lie about their true intentions, women lie with padded bras) . Underneath the surface is the unmistakable stench of religious intolerance and using the law to regain one's lost 'honor'.
Here is what I think may have happened:
1. Woman is looking for consensual sex with a Jewish man.
2. Man advertises himself as Jewish.
3. Woman finds the man physically and psychologically attractive.
4. Woman agrees to sex and has (probably) a good time in bed with the man.
5. Woman finds out the man lied to her and is angry. Her religious morals compound that anger and magnify it into fury, shame, loss of honor (gasp - the insult of Arab semen swimming inside her though the last time I checked semen don't come labeled by nationality or religion).
6. Woman seeks retribution by taking the man to court and accusing him of rape.
As for protecting the public from sophisticated, smooth-tongued criminals I am only led to wonder why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not also in jail for the numerous lies and deceptions he has committed as a sophisticated smooth-tongued criminal against the Israeli people as a politician. And fittingly, this is in the news today (Netanyahu admits he deceived the US to destroy the Oslo accord):
