The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCCI) received over 51,000 queries in 2024, according to its annual report released Wednesday, yet, it was unable to provide a full accounting of how the state handles sexual offense cases due to several government ministries’ refusal to share data they are legally obligated to provide, a situation that directly impacts the public and the fight against sexual violence.
The date of this report’s publication is significant, as it precedes the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25. This global observance, established by the United Nations in 1999, is a crucial moment for governments and civil society groups to release data, run campaigns, and push for legislative reforms in the fight against gender-based violence.
The ARCCI serves as the national umbrella organization for rape crisis centers across Israel and compiles an extensive annual dataset that typically draws on information from law enforcement agencies, courts, ministries, and the IDF.
This year, however, the Israel Police, the State Attorney’s Office, the Israel Prison Service, the Education Ministry, the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry, and the IDF all withheld key information, the report noted.
The organization said the decision violates statutory obligations and breaks sharply with previous years, when these bodies consistently provided detailed figures on investigations, indictments, sentencing, and institutional responses.
ARCCI reports that government, IDF withheld key information on sexual assault
It added that it filed administrative petitions against several ministries demanding the release of the data and is weighing additional legal steps.
Even without the missing figures, the data collected directly from the crisis centers paint an alarming picture. The ARCCI documented 51,118 cases nationwide last year, with more than 16,600 of these being new cases.
Additionally, over 3,900 teens reached out through AnyTeen, the organization’s anonymous chat service for youth – a sharp increase of roughly 30% compared to 2023.
Distinctly, the majority of reports involved minors, with more than half of all cases relating to children or teenagers.
The report also identified steep increases in reports of sexual violence occurring within schools, youth-workplaces, and treatment settings. Sexual assaults tied to sedative substances, including date-rape drugs, also rose significantly.
Only about one in 10 victims chose to file a police complaint, the report found.
Meanwhile, partial data available from the State Attorney’s Office – submitted earlier this month to the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee – indicated that 81% of sexual-offense cases handled in 2024 were closed without an indictment. More to the point, only a little over 700 indictments were filed, while more than 3,000 cases were closed.
The ARCCI warned that this figure reflects a system faltering at every stage, from the initial police response to the prosecution of cases.
Orit Sulitzeanu, the ARCCI’s director-general, said the refusal of state bodies to transfer data amounted to “an expression of contempt and an abdication of responsibility,” pointing to chronic shortages in sexual-offense investigators, poor handling of complaints, and the rapid closure of online reports.
These patterns, she further said, contribute to a landscape in which offenders avoid accountability and victims lose faith in the system.
The report also compiled data from the courts and the Justice Ministry’s Legal Aid Unit. Civil courts saw a rise in sexual-offense-related lawsuits, most of which ended in rulings favorable to the victims, though many cases were resolved through settlements rather than judgments.
Labor courts also handled dozens of sexual-harassment instances, with the majority concluding in plaintiffs’ favor, though proceedings often stretched longer than in previous years due to wartime delays.
The Legal Aid Unit represented a record 427 victims in 2024 – a 30% increase – following legislative reforms championed by the ARCCI to expand access to free legal representation in criminal proceedings.
As Israel approaches the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the organization warns that the state’s refusal to release key data endangers national efforts to confront sexual violence.
Sulitzeanu said the numbers indicate a growing pattern of abuse occurring within homes, educational institutions, and therapeutic environments.
She added that the crisis centers’ work now encompasses both direct support for victims and a broader fight over the moral and institutional character of Israeli society. Without transparent government cooperation, she warned, Israel risks regressing at the very moment global institutions are calling for intensified action.