Thursday, February 01, 2007

Chaim Ramon, No Angel, but...


You probably expect me to be overjoyed that Chaim Ramon's career has been destroyed after he was judged guilty of forcibly kissing the young soldier.

I'm certainly against anyone using their power and authority for anything sexual. For religious reasons and more, I'm against people touching others without "invitation," regardless of sex.

...as I watched the drama of "H vs Chaim Ramon" on TV and read about in the papers and on the internet, one thing kept going through my mind:

If an ordinary woman was raped by an ordinary man, would she find it as easy to get him judged guilty by the the courts and media?

Before this whole scandal was exposed, I didn't like Chaim Ramon for his policies relating to my right to live in our Biblical Homeland. He even advocated giving up parts of Jerusalem. The same media which once promoted and endorsed him so enthusiastically turned on him with the professed aim of destroying his career. There had to be another agenda.
I feel sorry for Mr. Ramon. What he did wasn't right, but his punishment didn't fit the crime.
This whole business will only make me feel better if there is an increase in convictions against rapists and those forcing sexual acts, who aren't politicians poised to reach the pinnacle of political power.

4 comments:

Rafi G. said...

I similarly thought this was a very frivolous case and he had no chance of being convicted. I have since been re-thinking the story.

The judges were unanimous, which seems very unusual, let alone for such a case where it is simply determining whether the kiss was willing or coerced. Hard to define, yet they came to a unanimous decision.

My thoughts are that either this was a set-up, maybe for his intentions to reform the judicial system. The second option is that we just were not told some aspect of the case. Maybe it really was clear that he did force himself on her, with some details we are not privvy to.

That being said, regardless of whether that is true or not, Ramon was a senior minister. He needs to be taught a lesson so others will be more careful as well. It is time these guys stop thinking they are all-powerful and answer to nobody.
ven if it was consensual (which it was not according to the courts), he should have realized it is very inappropriate. he is 52 and she is 18. not every flirtation is cause for a kiss with a 52 year old guy sticking his tongue down the throat of an 18 year old girl
Also, e

Batya said...

Obviously, he's guilty a kiss-stealing from a girl young enough to be his young daughter.
I'd like to see every guy guilty of that and more have his life destroyed.
He's of a generation which didn't think it a crime, and he miss-read signals. Pathetic.
I hope it's a message for men to keep hands off and tongues away.

marallyn ben moshe said...

shabbat shalom muse...i am sorry for rimon also...but!!!...i am thrilled that the courts are beginning to clean the slate...itzik mordechai/chaim ramon/katzav/olmert/and the lot of them...let them know that there is ONE law in israel...not one for us and one for them...feh...a great post and a sweet shabbat shalom my friend

Batya said...

I won't believe until Olmert's tried, convicted and jailed.
I won't believe it until the rape crisis organizations say that convicting rapists is now easier.