Comptroller: Israel slow in fight against domestic abuse because of lack definition for violence

“When my sister was murdered by her partner, I knew that I would do everything to save the next Michali. Since then, I have dedicated my life to saving lives and fighting violence against women,” said Lili Ben Ami, the sister of social worker Michal Sela who was murdered by her partner and the father of her baby in 2019, went on to found the Michal Sela Forum, an innovative non-profit that fights violence against women.

The report reads: “Violence as a broad category constitutes a violation of one of the most basic of human rights: That of a person to their body and their dignity. When violence is directed towards women, and in relationships in particular, the violation carries the same gravitas.

The long-time fight against domestic abuse and IPV has shown so far that to combat it, tight and consistent coordination and enforcement between all the different relevant authorities is critical.

The designated government body in this case is a widespread national agency led by a permanent inter-ministerial committee headed by the director-general of the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry.

The issue is far more precarious, in general, than its treatment, both due to how insidious it can be and the fact that it's difficult to gather data on it, as it depends on victims coming forward, and they cannot always do so.

The Israel-Hamas War only exacerbated the phenomenon; this is not unique to Israel and has been observed worldwide during times of national emergencies, like wars or natural disasters, meaning that attention to the issue is even more needed.

The Comptroller published a report on the matter in 2021. The data for this report was gathered from August to September of 2024.

Police statistics show that between 2022 and 2024, 32 women were murdered by their partners, making up a third of femicides. IPV investigations made up 64% of cases opened in 2023 under the umbrella of domestic violence.

In the 12 months that preceded the 2024 survey, about 576,000 of people between the ages of 18 and 65 suffered violence from their partners - both physical and non-physical. About a fourth experienced severe abuse.

A characterization itself of the phenomena of domestic violence has not yet been ratified by the Israeli government - Israel did not sign onto the Istanbul Convention, an international agreement created to protect women from violence and abuse. It encourages states to take action - by helping victims, holding abusers accountable, and working toward gender equality. Additionally, any bill proposals to establish such a designation did not advance.

“The lack of a legal characterization makes it extremely difficult to monitor the phenomena and estimate its reach, and also to treat it at the governmental level. It too widens the gap between what is offered and what is needed,” reads the report.

The designated national agency was not established to completion, and not at all at the regional and local levels. Additionally, the inter-ministerial committee, which is operational, did not follow the division of authorities and responsibilities that were recommended, encumbering its productivity.

The Comptroller also found that there is now a more accurate understanding of how widespread domestic violence and IPV are, thanks to a national survey from 2024. However, the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry has not yet scheduled a meeting to discuss the findings, or to order more surveys.

The committee also failed to set a work plan that coordinated with the 2023-2024 budget, and did not discuss the application of such a plan, complicating the matter of funding as well.

The Comptroller found that recommendations from committees in 1998 and 2016 to streamline the information from authorities to healthcare workers - were not followed. This was only exacerbated during the war - both due to the overload and to widespread evacuations.

Out of 146,000 documented cases of IPV between the ages of 18 and 65, only 17,000 women are registered for services, and only 12,300 men and women actually receive it. By August 2020, there had not been a central aggregative system to collect data. The Comptroller found that this had been partially fixed, but that the lack of a central data system means that it cannot be used for legislative purposes.

From a budgetary perspective, about 60% of the allocated funds were actualized by recommendation of the inter-ministerial committee, which the Comptroller noted was an improvement, though it is not where it should be.

The report noted though that there was no increase in budget for the committee during the war, despite the heightened predicted violence. The funds are also designated to specific areas, making it “incredibly difficult” to track how effective the funds are.

“We cannot stand aside against the phenomena of abuse by partners - which 146,000 people experienced since the start of the Israel-Hamas War. A third of women who were murdered in 2022-2024 were killed by their partners. These statistics demand that the State work against this,” reads the report.

When the war broke out, the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry did not work to expand awareness of its services, nor did it explain the broader effects the war had on domestic violence and IPV.

The Comptroller found that even though the ministry was aware that there is severe under-reporting of IPV, it did not work to find creative solutions to try to breach that wall. This became particularly relevant to domestic violence shelters, as they are run by local authorities, which work with data from the ministry.

The ministry did order a quick survey in January 2024 on domestic violence and IPV during the war (after it had been ongoing for several months by then). However, that was the last one it conducted.

The previous Comptroller report found that the relevant ministries (Welfare and Social Affairs, Education, and the Authority for Prevention of Violence, Alcohol and Drug Use) did not all work under the same first-response plan - which attempts to tackle domestic violence before it becomes extreme - and also that the projected budget at the time was fully insufficient. The Comptroller found that this was partially remedied - the plans were expanded - but that the ministries still don’t have a comprehensive first-response plan that works smoothly across them all platforms (Social Affairs and Welfare, Education, Health, National Security, and the Authority), and that the budget is still lacking.

Ben Ami added that when women were moved around localities due to evacuations, their treatments were interrupted and the care disrupted.

In 2021, the Health Ministry found that nearly a fifth (18%) of reported cases it recorded of domestic violence came up through calls for mental health treatment, including suicide attempts and addiction (1,630 out of 8,814). Yet, the Comptroller found, the Health Ministry has not allocated a budget for domestic violence treatment coordinators in psychiatric hospitals and communal centers. As of December 2024, such coordinators were only employed in two psychiatric hospitals in Israel.

The Comptroller found that the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry had fully fixed its budgetary model for the communal centers.

Separately, it found that, overall, the number of men treated in domestic violence centers did go down since 2019, though the percentage of those treated in the non-Jewish sector remained the same (19%). It also found that the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry excelled in its campaign to reach men in the circle of violence and help them get the help they need.

The previous report found that the administration of the courts did not have an updated list of protection orders through which men were referred to for treatment. In 2021, the courts referred only 89 people to treatment centers.

The Comptroller found slight improvements: A 2022 amendment made it so that courts were obligated to test the compatibility for treatment for a man against whom a restraining order was issued. Yet, as of December 2024, this had not been fully implemented in staffing by the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry; it only filled a fourth of the required staff.

The previous report also found that only 14% of judges attended conference days on the matter; this dropped to seven percent in 2024. There were also no training programs on the updated amendment, nor did the administration of the courts have the statistics it needed to fully implement it.

The Comptroller further found that there has been no fix to the phenomenon of people who were imprisoned for domestic abuse getting released by an administrative procedure - rather than a parole hearing. The reason this is critical is because the hearing sees to it that the person enrolls in a communal rehabilitation program once they are released. And, those who are released according to the ideal protocol number at less than 10%.

The report reads, “Only 10% of those who were imprisoned for abuse and domestic violence were incorporated into rehabilitation programs. The Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry must join forces with authorities - the National Security Ministry, and the Israel Prison Service and its Rehabilitation Division - to coalesce a response.”