Marianne Azizi writes:

The battered women industry in Israel claims that each year 200,000 women fall victim to male violence. This figure was invented by the Women’s International Zionist Organisation (WIZO) in 1995, and has remained unchanged ever since. 

Despite a purported 600,000 children being affected by the incidence of male violence against 200,000 women annually, there are still only 16 shelters in Israel. Two are operated by Bat Melech, for the Orthodox Jewish community. This is the opening statement written on the Bat Melech website:

Bat Melech currently operates two shelters for battered women from the religious/ultra-Orthodox communities. The shelters are located in Jerusalem and the second in the centre of the country. The shelters are intended for women from all over the country. The shelters can accommodate up to 24 women with their children. The shelter allows women and their children, in addition to physical protection in times of danger, a one-time opportunity to realise their full range of legal, social and psychological rights while in the country. Women are also given the opportunity to develop skills for future independence while being sensitive to the religious needs of women and their children. The women live in the shelter for an average of six months. Women turn to the shelters themselves or are referred by family, friends, welfare offices, hospitals, police, city and neighbourhood rabbis, and all the other organisations that provide assistance or advice to women.

It reads like a haven for women and children who have suffered violence. But what of women – and their children – who have never been beaten or abused? It appears the shelter is ready to accept a woman just on her word, without verification. In a recent case, a woman checked herself and her five children into the Beit Shemesh shelter on the grounds of “financial violence”. The five children were taken from a luxury villa just days before the school term began, and locked up like prisoners, with no contact with the outside world. This removal of the children triggered a fight by the father, Mickey Givati, a juvenile lawyer, to rescue them. This is what he discovered: 

• Mother went to the shelter complaining of financial violence, after receiving $10,000 in less than two months to support her, saying she needs money for shopping. The shelter took her without any investigation. 
• Mother dupes her kids into believing they are going on a trip. The children, aged four to 12, were locked up for up to 14 hours a day with no school, books, pens, phones, computer or contact with the outside world.
• Mother not given custody given for the children and the court declared the father posed no risk.
• Mother and children left the luxury villa to live in two rooms, feeding on $2 per day. Children starving.
• Father sees kids three times a week, for two and a half hours as they sob and cry for rescue.
• Children allegedly generating $5,000 each per month in profit to the Bat Melech Shelter

Mr Givati barraged the courts, both civil and religious. Proving there was no violence by the father to the children, he demanded their release from captivity. Forty-four days after their illegal kidnap, the children and the mother were forced out from the shelter and returned home. The mother was heartbroken to leave the shelter, having taken the children under false pretences and being likely to face questioning.

Why did it happen, and how can a shelter steal children without due process?

A year prior to this case, Mr Givati investigated shelter fraud and discovered dubious accounting and suspicious funding. This was not confined to Bat Melech, but applied to cases involving the forceful removal of children from their parents. 

Mr Givati had already been questioned and warned in May 2018 to steer clear of the corrupt shelters. He represents many high profile clients who had become targets of the Israeli state, and his work had made him a target as well. The kidnapping of his own children was a clear message: no matter how rich or poor you are, we have the power to dismantle any family we wish.

Mr Givati was naturally devastated by the kidnapping of his family but used his years of legal experience to fight back.

First, he received acknowledgement from court that there was no violence against the children (only the violence they endured in the shelter itself).

He still had visiting rights to see his children unsupervised – in the shopping mall near the Beit Shemesh shelter, where he spent over $200 feeding them as they were starving. Also the children could come home and spend the weekend with him. It made no sense to lock them up, which was entirely illegal.

The children described the cramped conditions and hunger they experienced in captivity. Two had tried several times to escape, which he discouraged, as the next step would be to place them in a close, private American institution, generating huge profits on them. He learned they had overheard the staff discussing foster care, and also encouraging the mother to lie, a technique repeatedly leaked to juvenile lawyers on a scale which proves systematic training of women by the social workers.

The children described being put on a starvation diet consisting of a small amount of schnitzel and a spoonful of rice per day, and inhabiting a rat- and snake-infested building. A huge flight of stone stairs led them from their bedroom to a small playroom. Inside sources report that a young child was taken to hospital after falling down the stairs while unsupervised.

The children were beaten and abused by shelter staff. They were threatened with psychiatric examinations for not settling into their two small rooms with absolutely nothing to stimulate them. Discussions were held to put the youngest boy, aged four, into foster care, and the others into closed boarding schools. 

The authorities hoped that the assumption that “there is no smoke without a fire” would destroy Mr Givati’s reputation and career, and prevent him from rescuing his children. After the court judged him to be innocent of any wrongdoing, he demanded the right to his children. Three of the children were taken to court to give evidence. Asked to choose between mother and father, they said they wanted to be released and go to school.

The taboo of questioning battered women and shelters ensures these organisations can work under social cover and above the law. Women in Israel enjoy not only immunity from any illegal actions, but are also put into a police programme called Serena. This gives them a hotline to the police and they can make any false claim they wish, resulting in constant invitations of the father to be interrogated. An example was when Mr Givati was investigated for paying the internet bill on a conference call, which the woman claimed made her feel threatened.

A lawsuit is being filed against Bat Melech and its chief executive, Noah Gary Korman, for the kidnapping, damages to the children, preventing their education, and the illegal refusal to release the children until forced by a court order, plus the persecution of the father.

The achievement of Mr Givati cannot be underestimated. He beat the system this time, but the question is for how long?