Female students at Hebrew University’s Har Hatzofim (Mount Scopus) campus complain that Arabs routinely harass them and commit various sexual offenses. The police appear to be unable or unwilling to help. An activist group, Im Tirtzu, wants to set up a students’ safety patrol.
Similar charges were made three years ago and things seem to have gotten worse since then.
One female student who spoke to Arutz Sheva said: “This is an unsafe place. You can’t go out in the evening after 6:00 p.m., when it is dark. They come here and they know that they can harass Jewish women. They would not harass Arab women because they fear blood vengeance and the like.” She told of a man aged between 40 and 50 who exposed himself to her and two other female students, and of four Arabs in a car who followed her at night in their car and whistled at her, and only drove off when other cars drove up and honked.
“I got off lightly but I know many girls where it ended differently and they experienced very harsh things,” she said. “I am lucky. I heard of one girl who was raped. When you tell the police, they can’t do anything, because there is no evidence of what happened.”
She said that the university operates a shuttle service to the parking areas in order to avoid the harassment, but that this is only a partial solution.
Im Tirtzu sent letters to Minister of Public Security Yitzchak Aharonovich, Minister of Education Gideon Sa’ar, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Hebrew University President Prof. Menachem Ben Sasson, Jerusalem Police Commander Maj. Gen. Niso Shacham and the Head of the Committee for Advancement of Women’s Status in the Knesset, MK Tzipi Hotovely, saying the phenomenon is growing worse. The group has offered to set up a students’ patrol to protect the female students.
The Ministry of Public Security said that the matter is being looked into by the Ministry Ombudsman. The Jerusalem Police said that in 2011, eight complaints about sexual harassment at the Har Hatzofim campus were filed. Three of them were handed over to the State Attorney and five were closed.
MK Tzipi Hotovely said the matter will be discussed in a session of the Committee for Advancement of Women’s Status at the start of the Knesset’s summer session.
The stories fit a pattern of growing anarchy in Israel and systematic Arab intimidation, harassment and humiliation of the Jewish population. The “politically correct” regime that largely controls Israel’s media and law enforcement arms focuses on male violence and harassment but mostly targets Jewish men, with the final effect, its critics say, of making Jews of both sexes more vulnerable to attack by Arabs.
