Dear Partners and Friends,
Israelis are no strangers to change, threats and upheaval. The last two years – and definitely the last few days – have been a rollercoaster. Again, our reality and our physical and emotional safety have been shaken. As always, we adjust. But as the cease fire takes hold and the IDF completes its latest mission to protect Israel’s future, one thing remains constant: the impact on Israeli women.
As we have stated countless times in recent years, in times of crisis, women’s rights and safety take a back seat. We saw this during COVID, following the election of our current government, on Oct. 7 and throughout the war in Gaza.
This remains true today:
• Women are the first to lose employment and wages when workplaces are closed.
• Women disproportionately stay at home with children when schools are shut.
• Women continue to be home alone as too many husbands are, again, being called to the reserves.
• Government welfare offices and the courts have been ordered to only deal with essential matters, leaving many women who can’t receive child welfare payment to cope.
• Emergency situations and wars increase the pressure within the family unit and exacerbate cases of domestic violence and femicide. As Israeli families have been in “lockdown” mode during the latest Iranian attacks, thousands of women have been confined in so-called “safe spaces” together with their abuser.
While we continue working from home, the Rackman Center continues to protect women by:
• Advancing our clients’ family dispute cases, as possible, despite the partial closure of the courts.
• Providing legal advice through our call in Help Line.
• Providing emotional support to women in need.
• Promoting policy that protects women. In particular, we have sent an urgent joint appeal with Israel’s women’s organizations to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Welfare and the Minister of National Security, demanding immediate action to protect women’s safety, in order to prevent the murder of more women and save the lives of their children. This is in light of the war with Iran and the fact that, even prior to this fighting, an unprecedented number of 18 women in Israel have been murdered by their intimate partners in the first half of 2025, more than the total number of women murdered in the entire previous year.
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We are grateful for all your thoughts and prayers for our wellbeing during this traumatic period. We, too, pray for your safety wherever you are in the world. We are in this together.
May our hostages soon come home, may our wars end and may we awake to a new era in the Middle East and the world.
Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari
Adv. Shelly Blatt Zak
Leah Goeppinger-Levy
