Father's
Rights Activist Sues Israel, Ra'anana for 10 Million
By
Herb
Brandon
Israel News Agency
Jerusalem
----- February 2 .... A divorced Israel father who has been
prevented from seeing his child with equal access is planning
to sue the State of Israel, the City of Ra'anana, Ra'anana Mayor
Nahum Hofree and his ex-wife for criminal and civil damages
sustained from emotional abuse, gender bias discrimination and
criminal harassment.
"Divorced
fathers and their children in Israel have long been the victims
of gender bias discrimination," said the dad of a 6-year-old.
The father, whose name can not be published due to the Israel
family law privacy act, stated: "I was evicted from my
home, without due process on false charges of sexual harassment
by my former wife when we were married, was arrested under false
premises and brought to the police by private detectives who
identified themselves as police, had my property removed from
my home and stolen by private detectives and the state, have
watched my child suffer from regression caused by continued
conflict created by my ex, and have lost income due to criminal
harassment, emotional abuse, depression and negligence caused
by my ex and the City of Ra'anana's Child Welfare Department."
Divorced
fathers and their children in Israel presently suffer from gender
bias discrimination by the Israel Knesset, family courts, the
police and local child welfare departments. Blatant discrimination
and the forced separation of father from child stems from an
outdated law passed by the Israel Knesset in 1962. The Family
Custodian Act of 1962 clearly states that all children under
the age of six will automatically have custody under their mother,
unless the mother is violent, drug abuser or negligent.
Joint
custody in Israel is rare. Most couples who divorce in Israel
find it difficult to decide on anything together. Without the
cooperation of both parents in Israel, their is no joint custody
or shared parenting. Israel family courts will only accept joint
custody arrangements when both sides agree. The father is cast
away by the mother, the justice and child welfare systems in
Israel as a second class citizen. The dad turns into a "cash
machine" paying child support every month while being denied
equal access to their children. As a result, children become
alienated from their fathers suffering from Parental Child Alienation
Syndrome, crying from the immediate and long term adverse behavioral
effects of divorce and separation for years to come.
We
question why is it that dads in Israel can carry an M-16
to protect the State of Israel but are not allowed to
carry their own children?
- A divorced dad seeking to secure equal access to
his child
|
"Loving,
caring and responsible dads in Israel will no longer accept
the role of victim for themselves and their children,"
the divorced father stated. "The father's rights movement
in Israel has organized itself very well. We question why is
it that dads in Israel can carry an M-16 to protect the State
of Israel but are not allowed to carry their own children? We
have a long list of family and child psychologists who will
testify on our behalf, including tons of research material from
several respected institutions including the American
Psychological Association (APA) which explicitly state that
joint custody and or equal access actually reduces conflict
between divorced parents and that children critically need equal
time by both parents."
The
APA states that children in joint custody arrangements had less
behavior and emotional problems, had higher self-esteem, better
family relations and school performance than children in sole
custody arrangements.
One
of Israel's most respected family attorneys, Naftali Shilo,
of the Israel law firm Frimer, Gellman and Shilo had stated
that there are many other nightmare stories for which divorced
dads in Israel have suffered from.
"There
is another divorced dad from central Israel who had his young
daughter kidnapped to England in 2001," Shilo said. "We
went to the UK and filed abduction charges against the mother
and won. The child was then brought back to Israel. In 2002,
the mother again filed in family court to take the child away
from the father and bring the child to England stating the Israel
was a country at war. And again both the English and Israel
courts denied her from taking the child away from the father.
Reforms in family law are slow in Israel, but at present there
is progress with a Knesset Committee now examining a move to
abolish the Knesset Custodian Act of 1962 which presumes that
the mother is the better parent."
Recently
the Jerusalem
Post, the New
York Times and several other well respected media have
addressed and substantiated the emotional suffering and damage
sustained by both divorced dads and their children. In the United
States, reform in family law is quickly taking hold and a US
Presidential candidate, respected psychiatrist Dr.
Mark Klein, is campaigning on a platform based on family
issues and mandatory joint custody in all divorce cases.
As
far back as 1981 many states in the US began adopting reforms
in family law. The New York State Assembly and Senate approved
a law to require judges to consider joint custody of children
in divorce cases if one or both of the parents requests such
an arrangement.
There
are dozens of fathers' rights groups in the States, including
the American Coalition
for Fathers and Children, Dads
Against Discrimination and the Alliance
for Noncustodial Parents Rights. They may not have the name
recognition that Fathers 4 Justice has on its own turf, but
they work quietly behind the scenes, pushing for custody laws
like the ones Iowa and Maine have passed, lobbying Congress
and generally doing what they can to improve not just the rights
but also the image of divorced fathers.
In this last task, oddly enough, these groups have benefited
from federal initiatives designed to motivate divorced or never-wed
fathers who care all too little about their kids, as publicly
financed ad campaigns remind the public how indispensable fathers
are. (''Fathers Matter,'' shouted ads on New York City buses
last year.) Fathers' groups also benefit from a more general
recognition that fathers, at least in some socioeconomic circles,
are now much more involved in their children's lives. Some of
that involvement is born of necessity, given how many mothers
work, but necessity also seems to have effected a cultural shift,
ushering in the era of the newly devoted dad.
The
traditional custody arrangement, with Mom as sole custodian
and Dad demoted to weekend visitor, may have been painful, but
practical, in a family with a 50's-style division of labor;
but to the father who knows every Wiggle by name, the pediatrician's
number by heart and how to make a bump-free ponytail, such an
arrangement could be perceived as an outrage, regardless of
what might be more convenient or who is the primary caretaker.
The
divorced Israel dad who is now planning to sue the State of
Israel, the City of Ra'anana and his ex-wife for 10 million
dollars says: "We are going to hit them where it hurts
- in the pocketbook. We are going to remove from office insensitive,
callous public officials who ignore a child's basic human rights.
For once, the Israel Ministry of Health, Israel Ministry of
Justice, the mayors and the child welfare departments of Ra'anana
and other Israel cities and towns will know that loving, responsible
and caring divorced dads are not just banks for narcissistic
and destructive mothers. Reforms in family law are coming to
Israel and hopefully also less tears and a healthier future
for our children."
Related
Web sites:
Father's 4 Justice Israel
The Jerusalem Post
Yale
University
American
Psychological Association
Harut
Sheve
UK Men and Father's
Rights
National Fatherhood Initiative
Fathers
for Kids
Fathers.com