TV

We will become indifferent to the word rape.

That's why it's good that Chaim Etgar went down to the details in his difficult investigation

Haim Etgar placed himself in the role of listening, modestly, as he turned the stage to the victims and the horrifying story of the businessman Israel Or.

You can also compliment the production, which packaged the story with dignity, without yellowish decorations and unnecessary drama additions

Ofir Segersky

01/08/2022

Monday, 01 August 2022, 08:28 Updated: 08:44

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Exposure, Haim Etgar (screenshot: Keshet 12)

Nothing could have prepared me for the "disclosure" investigation, certainly not the preliminary publications on the Internet about a businessman suspected of "sexual harassment".

"The investigation that stirs up the world of entertainment", it was called in the two-tenth year, "the terror of the famous".

The magazine phrases led me associatively to a stalker waiting for you under the house, not that that in itself isn't bad enough.

But the investigation into the diamond man Israel Or presents a picture that does not fall in its cruelty from the first rank of harassers.

It's Castiel, it's Cosby, it's Harvey Weinstein.

This is the worst imaginable.

The picture clears up in one blow to the face, with an opening that brings in less than a minute graphic descriptions of brutal violence and rape.

It would have been better to mention a trigger warning before it (which indeed appeared before the episode with a kind of man, by the way), but I will add it here: the following text may trigger physical and sexual violence, semi-rape and rape as a whole.

If, after you finish reading it, you want to watch the investigation itself,

The heroine of Etgar's investigation, for whom the title "heroine" fits her in every sense, is the model Tehila Levy who was crowned the beauty queen at the age of 18, a total of two years ago.

In the way of many models, she was taken directly to the parties of Israel Or, a man with enough money to cover up his past as a wanted bank robber (!!!) in the USA.

nausea.

Israel Or (Photo: screenshot, Keshet 12)

In the entertainment industry, Or was known for his personal charm, parties full of celebs and a fondness for models.

When the relationship between him and Levy began to develop, she considered him wonderful in his relationship with women.

That's what everyone thought.

This is how everyone always thinks about people who are not recommended to think otherwise.

Besides, it's easy to attribute positive qualities to someone who rescues you from a hard day's life in Ramla to a huge penthouse.

Very quickly, the penthouse turns out to be a golden cage: a ban on meeting men, separation from the outside environment, curses.

When the situation escalates, Levy breaks up with Or, who urges her to return to him with pleas and emotional manipulations.

Among them is the first manipulation in the book of predators, which always, in sick irony, focuses on being a father to a daughter.

His daughter has already been tied up, he tells Levy, and she returns to his arms.

Or takes her on vacation in Mexico, and there, allegedly, he rapes her, for the first time but not the last.

Levy's story made me reflect anew on the "success stories" of girls who are kidnapped to model in high school, or are pulled like her from the social periphery to the status of a queen.

Is this what success looks like, or an escape from choice?

Is a beauty queen, a 17- to 24-year-old girl-woman, who gains first fame thanks to her external data, really a queen, or a slave with a crown?

heroine

Tehila Levy (Photo: screenshot, Keshet 12)

This word, "queen", is later used by Or when he defends himself against the allegations against him.

"I treated her like a queen," he says.

"Queen, queen, queen."

All this comes to teach us that a man who admires women during the day is often the same one who will trample them at night.

He will see you as a statue to bow to or a rag to wipe your feet on, just not an equal human being among equals.

One after the other, the other testimonies come up, all describing similar and chilling patterns of Enos using the same drug.

His ex-wife, who is finally interviewed, describes violence that almost led to her death.

Those of them who dared to confront him afterwards were met with approaching, silence and threats, not necessarily in that order.

It is understandable, then, why it is scary to go against such a man, or even refuse him when he offers you a chaser.

Even his way of showing chivalry towards women is expressed in his willingness to break the bones of those who hurt them, and finally he also threatens to challenge himself by destroying his career, a wonderful way to prove that you are not a violent person.

No less than the evidence, Or's reactions to them are depressing, as they continue to extract classics from the large number of predators.

From the best: "She didn't get a ring, she wants to ruin my life."

And what is most terrible of all, is the knowledge that there is no lack of those who will agree with him.

I can already see in my mind the same despairing reactions, like, "Well, what did she expect?", and "She deserves it, she was only looking for money".

These claims, by themselves, are too bleak to contain.

First of all, I state the obvious: affection for money and status is not a sin or a crime.

Rape - yes.

What a silly feeling to write this.

Moreover, how terrible is the immediate, easy, non-self-examining assumption that only a rich man can afford a young, poor woman social leadership.

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To the full article

Haim Etgar (Photo: screenshot, Keshet 12)

Levy also prepares herself for the viewers' reactions.

"You can say 'she's his partner, it's not non-consensual,'" she speculates.

I would like to jump through the screen and say to her, "What the hell, it's rape screaming to the sky!", but unfortunately, Levy is right.

These are the reactions that await her, in a society where too many people see a woman as the property of her owner.

It is precisely for this reason that victims find it difficult to raise their voices regarding sexual violence directed at them in a marital setting, and hence, among other things, the importance of this investigation.

People will always prefer to stick to a story that matches their world view, so the importance of the graphic descriptions, which leave little room for interpretation, is also understandable.

In the fast-paced and investigative world we live in, it seems that some indifference towards the word "rape" has remained.

Our level of stimulation has risen for the players, and in order to illustrate to the audience how bad a given situation is, it is necessary to describe it in detail.

All of this is true for the indifferent audience, but not for victims of sexual trauma, with whom it would have been better to behave more sensitively with an adapted content warning, and perhaps also dedicated warnings for specific sections that describe particularly brutal scenarios.

Along with this, Haim Atgar must be credited for the sensitivity with which he led the investigation and interviewed the victims, while paying attention to the smallest details.

For example, the Bar Kalphon victim's refusal of a glass of water offered to her by the production, since following the trauma she only drinks from a personal bottle that she carries with her.

In accordance with the gravity of the subject, Atgar puts himself this time in the role of listener, modestly, as he turns the stage to the victims and the story.

You can also compliment the production, which packed the story with dignity, without yellowish decorations and unnecessary drama additions.

And to be honest, there is no need for unnecessary extras - this story is beyond terrifying in itself.

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