PKI Moms Breaking Silence on Sexual Violence

Content Warning: Sexual Assault

Project Kesher Israel shared a story of heroic proportions this week.

A PKI-trained leader and mother to a 16-year-old daughter reached out for support after her daughter came to to tell her she had been sexually assaulted by a fellow student along with six other girls at her boarding school in Israel. The mother, a Russian-speaking immigrant had recently participated in PKI virtual leadership training webinars with visiting lecturer Dr. Ella Berchansky, where they dispelled  prevalent and damaging myths around sexual violence, in Russian. Thanks to PKI, the mother knew she should believe her daughter and that she could turn to PKI for guidance. She was one of the only parents of the six victims that chose to believe her daughter and fight for all of them. Though the school administration took no steps to protect the girls or remove the accused, together with the support of PKI and professional partners, the mother wrote letters exposing the story within the educational system. The pressure mounted and the boy was finally removed from the boarding school this week. 

PKI provided not only critical knowledge and a safe space to learn about this taboo topic, but also the tools to fight back: legal letter-writing in Hebrew and different avenues for applying pressure on the school to take action, contacts with experts who can provide emergency mental health support and legal guidance. PKI is guiding her to find a pro-bono feminist lawyer and work with Israel's Rape Crisis Centers to seek justice. The PKI leader shared that she is thankful to Project Kesher Israel for the knowledge she never imagined she would need to help her daughter. 

Thanks to PKI programs and despite being a Russian-speaking immigrant in Israel, this participant felt empowered to speak with authorities and stand up for her daughter, when other parents engaged in victim-blaming. In Israel right now there is a lot of media attention around several similar cases in which the community has taken to the defense of the perpetrator of violence against girls. This is a large battle that Israeli feminists are fighting and PKI is proud to be bringing critical messages to the Russian-speaking community and beyond.