Rape Discrimination
By Toufic Barakeh
London http://sayitonline.net 25/07/2010 Sabbar Kashur, a Palestinian native of Jerusalem, met a Jewish woman in the holy city in 2008. He introduced himself as a single Jew looking for a serious relationship. The two had sex in a nearby building.
The woman filed a criminal complaint after learning Kashur was Arab, not Jewish. Prosecutors acknowledged that the sex was consensual, but accused him of misrepresenting himself.
Kashur was sentenced to 18 months in prison by an Israeli court last Monday after being convicted of "rape by deception".
The court agreed, sentencing Kashur despite acknowledging that his case was not "a classical rape by force".
"If she hadn’t thought the accused was a Jewish bachelor interested in a serious romantic relationship, she would not have co-operated," the judges said in their ruling.
It is not clear what the judge meant by “serious romantic relationship”. Is it a pledge of some sort to live happily ever after to be separated only by death or say divorce or separation? Or was it an engagement in an erotic affair resulting in immediate urge for sex in a nearby building?
Yet naughty Kashur had rendered himself lonely and isolated in his prison. Politically motivated activists would rate his case as trifle and not many will volunteer to defend him. Religious groups, Islamists, Jewish and Christians, would consider him as a double sinner: liar and adulterer.
Lovers beware. Do not lie to a potential sex partner; to avoid facing criminal charges for 'deceit rape'!
touficbarakeh@sayitonline.net
