MK Nissim Zeev (Shas) often succeeds in sparking the anger of other MKs during Knesset sessions and committee meetings—he's even been dubbed “the court jester.” MKs eagerly await his statements to laugh at them, but that was not the case this time, as the Knesset marked today the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
In this important session, MK Zeev successfully enraged his colleagues in the parliament when he accused women of making their husbands angry, forcing the husbands to respond to their wives aggression. MK Zeev accused women of nagging their husbands, treating them poorly, threatening them, and throwing things at them. The husband's response is to be expected, he says.
Zeev rankled MKs even more when he said that domestic violence is largely present in low-income families and among new immigrants, but not among the ultra-orthodox. A report published today by the Knesset Women's Committee found that in 2004 ten men killed their wives, while women filed 13,592 police complaints of domestic violence.
Lest anyone claim the statements have been taken out of context, here is the full text:
“Everyone is obliged to respect his wife and love him more than himself, but I say to you that after hearing some of the speakers here, I thought that when I left here I would find women standing in line on their way to the hospital, all beaten and bruised, one of them in a plaster cast, and another I don't know what…
“You should listen to the figures. Violence is mutual. There is no doubt that there are men who beat their wives. There are good, innocent women whose husbands mistreat them. Yes, there is no debate about this. But the number of such women in Israel is not in the tens of thousands, to say nothing of the hundreds of thousands.
“Most of these women belong to minority groups or new immigrants. There is always violence in their homes as the result of poverty, unemployment, alcoholism, serious adjustment problems, etc. This is a problem, but it is not a matter of wholesale victimization.
“Domestic violence is not necessarily an individual matter. Men are not always the ones to strike first. In at least half of all cases of domestic violence, it is the women who attacked first. Some 55% of women admit that they have used violence in the six months following their separation from their husbands.
“The scenario in which a drunkard beats his wife and kids is only one of several scenarios. Another scenario is that of a peaceful man whose wife provokes him, annoys him, throws things at him, threatens him, and insults him. The most he is doing is responding to her aggression. We must put things in their proper perspective. Thank God that this phenomenon does not exist among the ultra-orthodox.”
MK Zahava Gal-On comments: does your wife beat you?
MK Zeev's statements sparked the anger of other Knesset members. MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz-Yachad) interrupted Zeev to ask him, “Does your wife beat you?” Deputy Knesset Speaker MK Nissim Dahan asked Zeev to clarify his statements. “Your statements suggest that you blame women,” he said. “You should declare to all that you are not placing the blame on women, but, on the contrary, want to defend them.”
MK Ilan Leibovitch (Shinui), a member of the Women's Committee, commented, “We can ask no more of someone who still lives in the Dark Ages. This man is a disgrace to the parliament. Unfortunately, Nissim Zeev has decided to play the role of court jester in the Knesset.”
MK Orit Noked (Labor) said, “Someone who repeats things said by MK Nissim Zeev this evening about the size of violence against women in Israel doesn't deserve to be a member of the Knesset. I invite MK Zeev to join me tomorrow morning on a tour of a battered women's shelter.”
Liora Minka, head of the Emunah association, a women's movement in the nationalist religious camp, rejected Zeev's statements. “MK Zeev apparently fell on his head and has lost all connection to reality,” she said. “This is not the first time. I strongly reject his statements, and I object on ethical, humanitarian, and feminist grounds. It is difficult to believe that someone without the slightest degree of sensitivity or knowledge can enter the parliament. Pity us his ignorance and his position in the Knesset.”
MK Zeev in the past: severe penalties for domestic violence harm Sephardim
This is not the first time that Zeev's statements have created an uproar among the public. A few years ago he said, “Severe legislation which seeks to impose the minimum [ sic ] penalty in cases of domestic violence greatly harm Sephardic families, who may not realize the significance of some of their behavior, which indeed may appear acceptable based on standards of conduct among these ethnic groups.”
Zeev clarified, “We should not condone domestic violence, but we should not support the idea that every incidence of violence—even if committed in a moment of crisis or even a relatively simple act of violence—must end with the imprisonment of the head of the household.”
He added that he did not mean excessive violence or repeated attacks, but “slaps or other unrepeated acts of violence that occur in difficult circumstances due to a crisis, as when the head of the household is unemployed.” |