In Israel the power of social networks is being used to kill off the practice of soft punishments for men in power. Mazal Mualem on AL Monitor has the story:
The first whistleblower, the woman who became the symbol of the Facebook fight against sex crimes, was Israeli soldier May Fatal. Fatal submitted an official complaint that the commander of the Givati Brigade in which she served sexually harassed her and forced her to engage in indecent acts. She chose to reveal her identity on Facebook on April 27, 2015, after the details of a plea bargain reached between the military advocate general and the commander, Liran Hajbi, were reported in the media.
Fatal’s post went viral, prompting extensive protests across the internet. A veritable army of young women and mothers launched a campaign against the deal, and finally succeeded influencing the outcome of the affair. Hajbi was eventually not only punished, but also demoted and dishonorably discharged.
Another trailblazer in November that same year was religious journalist Rachel Rotner, who came out against one of the rising stars of the religious Zionist HaBayit HaYehudi, again through the medium of Facebook. She posted that the chairman of the party’s parliamentary faction, Knesset member Yinon Magal, sexually harassed her at his sendoff party when he left Walla! News. Before his election to the Knesset, Magal was the senior editor of the site, which meant that he was Rotner’s editor too.
Party leader Naftali Bennett summoned Magal for a talk that same day, and within a week, Magal resigned from the Knesset. It all happened without the involvement of law enforcement. Magal, who is also an internet personality, realized that in an age in which women’s struggles reverberate so extensively, he would have a hard time functioning as a public figure, especially in a religious party.
The positive aspects are undeniable, but it is a form of mob justice – so how are false accusations handled by the mob? So far, it appears that the social networks are activated after a guilty plea or verdict is returned, and the punishment is thought to be inappropriate – most of the time. The Magal case may not fit that description, as law enforcement was never involved.
It also provokes questions of whether we see the same problems and solutions in the United States? We’ve certainly seen some attempts, notably concerning judges who hand down lenient sentences for rapists. Whether these have been effective is a question for which I’ve seen no answers. And the United States is, at two magnitudes larger than Israel in terms of population, a less coherent society.
