After 3 weeks; high-risk minor girl located in Arab village
16 y.o. Jewish girl used by Arab criminals for serious criminal activities. The girl had been sent by court order to an institution for high-risk girls, but disappeared 3 weeks ago. Yesterday the police located her, acting on a tip from the Lehava organization.
HaKol HaYehudi, 13 Tamuz 5781/23.6.21
About 3 weeks ago, HaKol HaYehudi reported on the location of two high-risk girls. A short time afterwards, there was a report of another high-risk girl who had disappeared from the institution where she was staying by court order.
As far as can be reported, this is a 16 y.o. Jewish girl who got in trouble about a year ago in a criminal case, after she was used by Arab criminals for serious criminal activities. The girl stood trial and was sent by court order, under state responsibility, to an institution for high-risk girls.
Thee weeks ago, the girl left the institution and was taken to Arab villages, according to reports from Kafr Uyan. During all that time, her family received incomplete information from the police as to her whereabouts, or about efforts they were making to free her. Last Friday, the family received a photo of their daughter from Eilat, and went out to look for her during all of this past Shabbat in the city.
Yesterday, 22 days later, and after involvement of senior Jerusalem police officials and the deputy mayor of Jerusalem, the girl was located by the police’s Central Unit in Beit Hanina, Jerusalem, about which the Lehava organization alerted HaKol HaYehudi.
Nobody’s Girls
Anat Gopstein, of the Lehava organization which collected information and kept in constant contact with the police and the family, relates to HaKol HaYehudi: “The girl is at very high risk, threatened by Arab criminals against whom she testified. We contacted many other sources, but there was no solution. The girl’s parents couldn’t sleep – they didn’t have a day or night. The moment we contacted senior officials in the Jerusalem police, together with the deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Arieh King, the girl was located by the Central Unit and removed from the village.”
Due to the paucity of institutions for girls at risk, the girl was brought to the Neve Tirzah women’s prison. “A 16 y.o. girl should not be put in a prison”, says Gopstein, “she needs treatment, not imprisonment; we took her out after 3 weeks of abuse and exploitation she went through, and at the moment she has nowhere to return to. There are not enough places to care for such girls, there are no boarding schools or solutions. A prison is a school of crime for them.
“I call on the police and the welfare authorities to take responsibility for the girls at risk, but they have no solution. To act against the Arabs who are abusing them and pimping them out is no solution. The state is supposed to protect them, but in the name of co-existence, everything is permissible – including pimping out minors. The state buries its head in the sand, and that hurts.
“At the very time they want to declare us a terrorist organization, the state should be dealing with the real terrorism, nationalistic and sexual, against the girls at risk who are also exploited under the protective cover of the institutions they are sent to under court order. This must be eradicated. The state should rethink its route, it must take responsibility for these girls, because every minute they’re on the outside is a danger for them. They are nobody’s girls. We see that when the police want to, they can bring in the Central Unit in a moment’s time and rescue a girl threatened by serious criminals, and for whom there is fear for her life.”
