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Stage B – Prevention Measures
Publication, Notification, and Training
The second stage in building a safe space is the transition from written policy to field implementation. This stage focuses on proactive actions you must take to raise awareness, prevent harm, and fulfill legal requirements regarding notification and training.
What does the law require?
- Notification and Publication – The employer must notify every supervisor, employee, volunteer, and student (if the institution offers educational programs) of the prohibition against sexual harassment and the employer’s obligations, and require everyone to do their utmost to prevent sexual harassment. The employer must publish the code of conduct in a prominent location or through digital means, and send the information personally to each individual. If the employer employs more than 25 employees, they must publish the adapted code of conduct in a prominent location and provide a copy to any employee who requests it.
- Training and Education – The employer must allow employees to participate during work hours in training sessions on this topic. If it is an educational institution, there is an obligation to provide such training at least once a year.
- Employment Approval for Work with Minors – Anyone conducting regular activities for minors (including children’s activities during community gatherings) must obtain approval from the Israel Police for every adult employee or volunteer (from Israel and abroad) participating in such activities. The Israel Police does not provide such approval for foreign residents, so they must arrive in Israel already equipped with the approval.
- Appointing a Responsible Person – The employer may appoint themselves as responsible for the matter if they employ up to 10 employees. However, as a rule, a responsible person should be appointed to handle complaints, should any arise. The responsible person must be suitable for the role in terms of skills, experience, professional standing, interpersonal relations, and familiarity with the law and the disciplinary procedures the employer decides to adopt. It is preferable to appoint a woman to the position, whether from within the staff or externally. The responsible person will receive and investigate complaints according to the guidelines detailed below. Educational institutions must send the responsible person to dedicated training of at least 18 hours at places that offer such training.
How will assessment help you?
This section will equip you with practical tools for preventing sexual harassment in your organization or community. It includes the following resources:
- Sample Publication of Code of Conduct Summary – An example of a short and clear publication, designed to raise awareness and deter. Use this example to publicize the existence of the code of conduct and the details of the responsible person you have appointed.
- Sample Personal Letter to Staff – The sample letter is ready to send to all supervisors, employees, and volunteers in the organization. Through it, you can update them on the existence of the code of conduct and clarify your expectation for a safe and respectful space. You can also add information about training and employment approvals to the letter.
- Guide to Obtaining Employment Approvals from the Israel Police – The guide details the legal requirement and includes the information needed to request approvals from the police for employees and volunteers acting on your behalf among minors or helpless individuals.
- Information on Free Digital Training – Details about a short online course (one hour, free of charge) from the Civil Service Commission. Any employer can require employees to complete the course once a year as part of the training obligation.
Publication of Code of Conduct Summary
for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment
Sample Letter from the Organization
to All Staff Members
Employment Approvals from the Israel Police
The following two laws require the organization to obtain employment approval from the Israel Police if employees and volunteers acting on its behalf work among minors or helpless individuals.
It is important to note that employment approval is not a “certificate of good conduct” or a “criminal record.” The criminal registry is confidential, and the law prohibits organizations from requesting or receiving it. Employment approval does not constitute proof that the employee has not committed any offense, nor does it specify which offense is involved. It only indicates that there is no impediment to employing the applicant as an employee or volunteer among minors and helpless individuals.
Employment Approval under the Law for the Prevention of Employment of Sex Offenders
- Purpose of the Law – To prevent the employment of sex offenders as employees or volunteers among minors or helpless individuals.
- Who is subject to this obligation? Any organization that accepts an employee, volunteer, or service provider aged 18 and over, and whose role involves regular or ongoing (not one-time) contact with minors or helpless individuals: working, instructing, studying, teaching, mentoring, entertaining, supervising, and transporting minors or helpless individuals.
- Application of the Law to Men and Women – The guide details the legal requirement and includes the information needed to request approvals from the police for employees and volunteers acting on your behalf among minors or helpless individuals.
Employment Approval under the Law for the Prevention of Employment of Violence Offenders
- Purpose of the Law – To prevent the employment of violence offenders in work or volunteer settings with minors or helpless individuals.
- Who is subject to this obligation? Any organization that accepts an employee, volunteer, or service provider aged 18 and over, and whose role involves working in an educational institution such as a daycare center, day center, family daycare, kindergarten, summer camp, boarding school, after-school club, afternoon program, residential facility, or care for helpless individuals.
- Application of the Law to Men and Women – The guide details the legal requirement and includes the information needed to request approvals from the police for employees and volunteers acting on your behalf among minors or helpless individuals.
Please note: The organization must obtain both types of approvals from men and one approval from women. The approvals are valid for only one year, so it is important to ensure that the employment approvals of every employee and volunteer in regular or ongoing contact with minors in the organization are renewed annually.
Measures to Be Taken in Case of Violation of the Laws
- Against the Organization – An organization that violated the law (employed an offender in violation of the law or did not obtain employment approval) faces a fine of up to NIS 75,300.
- Against the Offender – An offender employed in violation of the law’s provisions faces imprisonment of up to one year.
How do you obtain the required approvals?
The candidate for employment or volunteering must request employment approval from the police through one of the following links:
Obtaining approval under the Law for the Prevention of Employment of Sex Offenders (2001):
https://www.gov.il/he/service/application-for-police-approval
Obtaining approval under the Law for the Prevention of Violence and Abuse (2023):
https://www.gov.il/he/service/employment-approval-from-the-police
After completing the online form, the candidate must go to the nearest police station to receive the approval in person.
Organizations can also apply through the above links and request employment approvals for their employees and volunteers. They must attach a power of attorney from each employee or volunteer to the request.
If the organization is requesting approvals for more than 50 candidates, it must also attach an employer commitment form. All forms appear in the above links.
The law does not address the employment of volunteers from abroad; nevertheless, it is recommended to ask them to obtain an equivalent approval or information about the absence of a criminal record. They must provide such approval to the Population Authority in any case if they are applying for a volunteer visa, student visa, family reunification, or another visa. In other words, they are expected to arrive in Israel already equipped with such approval. If they are unable to provide the approval, the recommendation is not to allow them to work or volunteer with minors or helpless individuals.
Training on Sexual Harassment
Training for the Person Responsible for Preventing Sexual Harassment in the Organization
If the organization is an academic or vocational educational institution, it is mandatory for the person responsible for preventing sexual harassment to undergo—at the organization’s expense and shortly after appointment to the position—professional training in handling cases of sexual harassment. The training must be at least 18 academic hours and cover, among other things, the nature of the role, the language of the Law for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment, prevention methods, and how to handle complaints. The dates and scope of the training the responsible person has undergone will be documented in the organization’s records.
If the organization is not an academic or vocational educational institution, it is recommended that the responsible person in the organization undergo such training, especially if the scope of activity includes many employees, volunteers, or participants.
Search engines can help you find training for those responsible for sexual harassment offered at various colleges, or by professional associations and private entities.
Training for Staff, Students, and Participants
Every organization must allow every supervisor and employee to participate annually in training and education activities for the prevention of sexual harassment and victimization. Participation will take place during the organization’s work or activity hours, whether the organization conducts the training itself or it is done by the responsible person or an external party.
Digital Training for Staff
The Civil Service Commission has developed a free digital course for the prevention of sexual harassment—”Let’s Talk Openly.”
The course is suitable and accessible to every citizen and every organization through the Campus IL platform. You can access it here and register on the site. The course is modular and allows easy navigation between chapters. Upon completion, participants will receive a digital certificate.
The course includes six chapters, featuring six authentic stories about sexual harassment that occurred in real life. In each case, it presents a different perspective, focuses on the emotional experience of women and men who dealt with sexual harassment in their workplace, and encourages participants to take action in the common situations presented in the course.
Encountering different characters allows participants to undergo a deep experience, notice their reactions, re-examine their perspectives, and act to prevent sexual harassment from an internal motivation and an understanding that real change can only come through taking personal responsibility.
The course explains the language of the law, helps identify harassing behavior patterns, and details prevention methods and tools for dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace.
The course also answers the following questions: What is sexual harassment? What is permissible to say and what is forbidden? How do employees who experience sexual harassment in the workplace feel? How does it affect their lives? What do they think about filing a complaint? What should the manager do when someone complains? How will other employees react when they find out what happened? How should one respond when employees speak in a sexually offensive manner toward certain groups? What is the role of the person responsible for preventing sexual harassment?
This is a sample training that can be done for staff. You can, of course, also conduct training through frontal or digital learning. The important point is that training and refresher courses are provided to all staff annually.
Paraphilias
Paraphilias = Sexual Deviations
A non-normative sexual orientation that can take various forms. The main ones are:
- Pedophilia – Primary or exclusive sexual attraction of an adult to children.
- Hebephilia and Ephebophilia – Primary or exclusive sexual attraction of an adult to adolescents.
- Voyeurism – An urge to watch a naked person without their knowledge or consent.
- Exhibitionism – Undressing and exposing genitals for sexual arousal in front of strangers who do not expect it.
- Frotteurism – Touching or rubbing against someone who does not consent, usually in crowded public places.
- Fetishism – Using inanimate objects or focusing on a body part (not a sexual organ) of another person for sexual arousal.
- Transvestism – Sexual arousal resulting from wearing clothing of the opposite gender.
- Sadism – Sexual arousal involving causing suffering, humiliation, or pain to others.
- Masochism – Sexual arousal resulting from suffering or humiliation.
A paraphilic orientation becomes a disorder when it causes distress to the person themselves, or when they harm, endanger, or exploit others without their consent. Professionals explain that a person with paraphilic tendencies will suffer from them even if they have not become a disorder—that is, even if they have not acted on them; the assumption is that the person with the tendency cannot control the attraction itself, but can learn how to manage it so that it does not control them. Effective treatment combines medication with cognitive-behavioral tools, correcting cognitive distortions, identifying triggers and risk situations, impulse control, managing a safe lifestyle, and training in showing empathy toward the victim.
What should be done?
There is a difference between the mere existence of the tendency and the internal struggle of the person with the tendency, and its definition as a disorder (from the moment the tendency is acted upon). Someone attracted to children cannot control the attraction itself, but can manage it. The tendency itself is considered a paraphilia, but as long as the person has not acted on it, it is not a disorder.
Of course, one should not wait for the paraphilia to become a disorder. As long as the person suffering from it is interested in help, they should be encouraged to receive appropriate treatment. At the same time, they should not be forced to do so.
The urge itself does not necessarily require action, but it is highly recommended for anyone suffering from an intrusive urge or attracted to minors to seek medical or psychological treatment. Studies show that high percentages of those with the tendency who sought treatment on their own initiative, before committing an offense, succeeded in controlling themselves and not harming others.
What should you do if the tendency has become a disorder?
If the person has harmed someone, it is of course sexual abuse. In such a case, the person responsible for sexual harassment must be brought into the picture, the guidelines for handling sexual abuse must be followed, and action must be taken accordingly.
What do you do with someone who refuses to receive treatment?
If someone has confessed to you about the existence of such a tendency, or if you learned about it from a third party but that person refuses to receive treatment, the law and ethics require you to take protective and preventive measures and set conditions for their participation in your various activities. You must ensure that they are never alone in an environment that triggers their tendency.
If, for example, they are attracted to children of a certain age, they will not be able to serve in children’s classes or participate in any activity in which children are involved. They will need to notify in advance every time they come to one of your activities and surround themselves with a small group of people who know about the tendency and are willing to keep an eye on them during these activities.
Treatment Providers
In Israel, there are organizations and professionals who treat people with paraphilic tendencies:
- “Shalom Banayich” Association with branches in Jerusalem and Petah Tikva: *9595 or 03-6182525, email: help@shlom.org.il.
- In the private market, there are therapists who specialize in sex offenses and paraphilias. They have undergone unique training in treatment and risk assessment, and every approach to them is done in a particularly discreet therapeutic atmosphere. You can search, for example, on the “Betipulnet” website.
Confidentiality and Duty to Report
A person with a paraphilic tendency who is considering disclosing their tendency will first want to know if they will be reported to the police. The law distinguishes between the tendency itself and the disorder—the actual act. Therefore, if someone has shared with you their tendencies, urges, fantasies, or fears but has not acted on them, they are entitled to confidentiality. The therapist—psychologist, social worker, psychiatrist, counselor, and also a religious figure (community leader, guide, spiritual counselor, teacher, facilitator, coach, etc.)—is neither permitted nor required to report to the police pedophilic or hebephilic fantasies of another person, as long as that person has not committed an offense and provided there is no real likelihood that they are about to commit one.
Confidentiality and Duty to Report
The therapist or religious figure is required to breach confidentiality and report to welfare authorities or the police in only two cases:
- If the person with the tendency reports that in recent weeks or months they have harmed a minor or helpless individual for whom they are responsible, or if the victim is still a minor and is in that person’s environment (according to Section 368-d of the Penal Law, “Duty to Report on Minors and Helpless Individuals”).
- If the person with the tendency has disclosed a real and immediate intention to commit a serious crime. For example: “I know that tomorrow I will not be able to control myself and will harm a child I encounter at the playground” (according to Section 262 of the Penal Law, “Failure to Prevent a Crime”).
In any other case, the therapist and religious figure are bound by confidentiality, even if the person with the tendency told about offenses committed in the distant past (several years ago, and if the victim is now an adult).
WhatsApp messages 054-669-4777
Email Naeerahc18.29@gmail.com