JERUSALEM: An Israeli court’s jailing on a rape charge of an Arab man it ruled had duped a Jewish woman into consensual sex by lying about his ethnicity caused a stir on Wednesday.
The Jerusalem District Court "has gone too far," the liberal Haaretz daily quoted Elkana Laist of the public defender’s office as saying.
The court sentenced Sabbar Kashur, 30, to 18 months behind bars on Monday, after finding that he had had sex with the woman by posing as a Jewish bachelor interested in a long-term relationship.
When the woman found out he was not a Jew, she filed a police
complaint that led to charges of rape and indecent assault. In a plea deal, Kashur later agreed to the charge of rape by deception, Haaretz said.
"If she hadn’t thought the accuser was a Jewish bachelor interested in a serious romantic relationship, she would not have cooperated," Judge Zvi Segal wrote in his verdict.
Kashur, who is married and has two small children, called the verdict racist.
"If I were Jewish, they wouldn’t even have questioned me. That’s not called rape," Haaretz quoted him as saying.
"She agreed to everything that happened."
The newspaper noted that the Israeli High Court set a precedent for the charge of rape by deception in 2008 when it rejected an appeal against a rape conviction by a man who impersonated an housing ministry official, promising women he would get them an apartment if they slept with him.
Lais argued that the Jerusalem court went too far in its application of that High Court ruling, "opening the door to a rape conviction every time a person lies regarding details of his identity."
The argument that obtaining sex by false pretences is a form of rape has been used in several countries, including the United States.
Israel’s Arab community numbers 1.3 million, about 20 percent of the population. It includes the descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who remained in Israel after the 1948 war and establishment of the Jewish state.
Relations between the two communities have always been controversial as Israel describes itself as both a Jewish and a democratic state, with rights for all its citizens.
