Israeli Militant Feminists Attack Minister of Justice Neeman on Child Custody reforms

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) January 21, 2012 -- Israeli Minister of Justice Yaakov Neeman announced on January 19, 2012 that he adopts recommendations of the Schnit Committee on reforms in the area of family law, including abolishment of the tender years presumption, and removing gender based preferences to women from the law, so that both parents can have equal chances of becoming custodians or joint custodians of the children in divorce.

As soon as the Minister of Justice announced his intention to adopt the Schnit Committee recommendations on parental equality, Israeli media was filled with reactions from the militant feminist groups, Rackman Center, Naamat, WIZO and member of Knesset Zehava Galon arguing that parental equality means that women will no longer be able to use the children as bargaining chips, that women lose a vital extortion tool, and that child support may be reduced to compensate for enhanced parenting time with the fathers.

The coalition for children and Family reacted to the news stating that the version of parental equality recommendations adopted by the Minister of Justice is still a far cry from true equality. In fact, it is a booby trapped version of equality that contains built-in mechanisms to elevate the mothers' chances of winning custody battles, despite the neutral language of the prospective new law.

In particular, Schnit personally had put too much emphasis is made to the question of who was the "primary caretaker", rather than who will be the friendly parent who will accommodate the non-custodian's maximum and meaningful parenting time. "The big hoopla of the feminist organizations against the recommendations adopted by Minister Neeman is merely a diversion from the real legal issues that the Judges will have to actually use. The feminists naturally want an emphasis on the division of domestic chores during the marriage, "primary caretaker", which is anachronistic and does not fit modern families anymore, while the rest of the world looks at the "friendly parent doctrine", i.e. which parent is stable and secure enough to allow the other parent full access without quarrels, false domestic violence complaints, and without periods of parental alienation", says Daniel Zer, one of the fathers with ccfisrael.

Other men's rights organizations in Israel also welcome the Minister's adoption of the Schnit recommendations, while noting that not even one representative of the men's rights organizations was a full member of the Schnit Committee, whereas at least four members were radical feminists, whose track records includes noisy and constant attacks against the male gender for the past two decades. In fact, a similar sub-Committee on the same issues of parental responsibility was appointed in 1997 and submitted recommendations in 2003. That sub-committee on parental responsibility in the Committee on the Rights of the Child was headed by the same ultra feminists, Saviona Rotlevi and Ruth Halperin Kaddari, who now oppose the Schnit recommendations, and they have simply buried the issue in 2003 by issuing a laconic statement that Israeli men are not mature enough for being trusted with raising children. Thus, the new recommendations could have been legislated in 2003 if it wasn't for Israel's practice of letting opponents of parental equality take leading roles in the same committees appointed to report on the subject.

In addition, Israeli fathers responded to the Neeman's adoption of the Schnit report that in order not to water down the effects of the Schnit report, massive reforms at the family courts must be made, because of the feminists' control of the Judiciary. Female lawyers from the ranks of the most ferocious anti-male organizations are constantly being appointed as family Court judges. They include some of the most notorious anti-male judges: Rivka Mekayes, Tova Sivan, Tamar Snunit Forer, Varda Ben Shahar, Zila Tzfat, Zila Keinan, Esperanza Alon, Alisa Miller, and many others. For example, Judge Rivka Mekayes before her appointment as family court Judge composed a sample guide for women on how to fabricate false domestic violence complaints against men, in order to prevent the men from seeing their children, remove them from their homes, and overtake the entire property. Such guides included suggestions such as "call the police and say that the man wanted oral sex against your will". Legal clinics operated by ultra militant feminist organizations also encourage women to claim that fathers sexually molest their own children. As a result, thousands of children were needlessly investigated for false child molestation claims, in the name of "empowering women". “If judges start using the friendly parent doctrine more often, hopefully false complaints will disappear, and true equality will be achieved”, said Eli Daniel.

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