Israeli girl gang-raped by Arabs wins appeal for terror-victim status

An Israeli woman who was gang-raped by six Arabs as a 16-year-old wins her appeal against the Defense Ministry.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Brutally raped by a group of Israeli Arabs in 2007, A.H. finally won recognition Monday as a victim of terrorism from the Appeals Committee for the Victims of Hostile Acts.

The Defense Ministry had refused to recognize the woman as a terror victim. Only 16 at the time of the assault, the perpetrators called her a “stinking Jew,” indicating a racially-motivated and nationalistic dimension to the attack.

In 2006, the law defining who is a victim of Arab terror was amended to include those who were assaulted where the “main goal is to harm a person because of national-ethnic origin, as long as it stems from the Israeli-Arab conflict.”

As a terror victim, A.H. will be entitled to a monthly stipend from the Defense Ministry.

The six Arabs kidnapped the girl and a friend in Netanya, and drove them to a beach. They beat the friend, but let her go after she resisted. They then “carried out a series of violent, shocking and horrendous sex offenses” against A.H. according to the prosecution. The men were sentenced to 15-19 years’ imprisonment.

This isn’t the first time that women sexually assaulted by Arabs were recognized as victims of terror. In 2017, a woman who had been robbed, beaten and raped near the Old City of Jerusalem nine years earlier by a group of Palestinians was finally given her rights under the law.

In 2015, a teenager was raped by an Arab in Tel Aviv while her boyfriend was forced to watch.