The Israeli Independent Public - Abstract of the Inquiry Report - December 2021

“I joined the inquiry in order to have an impact and initiate change. As an activist for raising awareness of sexual abuse in the Haredi sector in Israel, I see the inquiry’s establishment as supremely important for promoting the issue, and I’m sure it will succeed in demonstrating the great need for changing and correcting the existing situation.”

Raheli Nikola – Inquiry Coordinator Nikola is a social worker with a master's degree from Tel Aviv University, where she is currently working towards her Ph.D. in social work, in the field of child sexual abuse. She has experience working with vulnerable populations: drug addicts, the homeless, women in the sex industry, and victims of human trafficking. “In my field work I’ve accompanied many women and men in extreme living conditions involving much suffering on the very margins of society. Each time anew, I’d painfully discover their common denominator – difficult childhoods suffering maltreatment and sexual abuse. The events they underwent as children, with no ability to choose, influenced and continue to influence their entire lives – lives full of suffering. Sexual abuse in childhood is not just part of their history; it is part of the life story of many women and men in society in general. The time has come to stop fearing addressing the subject and begin treating this major source of human suffering.”

The Israeli Independent Public Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

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