This Is Justice?

The State of Israel has a reputation for having some of the weirdest politics in the free world. They can add to that one of the weirdest senses of 'justice'. Haaretz reports - with a straight face - on an IDF soldier who was fined $4,000 and sentenced to 6 months community service. What was the crime? Vandalism, perhaps? Or shirking his soldierly duties? Libel or slander? Disturbance of the peace?

Nope, try violent rape of a child.

Tel Aviv District Court on Tuesday sentenced an Israel Defense Forces soldier to six months community service for raping his young cousin repeatedly over a period of two years, beginning when she was 11...

Following the rapes, the girl began to lose her religious faith, had difficulty sleeping and suffered from recurring nightmares. She also lost all of her hair, and has to wear a wig. In handing down their ruling, the three women judges wrote that they intended to send the message that it is not pointless for women to make a rape complaint, and to show the accused that he is directly responsible for an attack on a child, and for the need to seek her forgiveness.

Woah, I'll bet the poor kid feels better: her cousin isn't behind bars, but at least he's washing toilets. And she's got $4,000 to defray the costs of therapy. Whoopie.

But you can't say the Israeli justice system isn't merciful. Look how well they treated the soldier:

In deciding on his sentence, the court had taken into account an psychological evaluation of the accused, which determined that he had no pedophiliac inclinations, or other sexual perversions.

Good to know. After two years of repeated child-rape, I was beginning to have my doubts about his sexual normalcy. Thanks for reassuring me. I'd hate to think an IDF soldier was a pedophile.

The psychological examination also found that the soldier had difficulty sleeping at night, and found the possibility of jail very distressing. The psychologist said that the trauma of imprisonment would cause him to have a nervous breakdown and could even spark thoughts of suicide.

Poor fella!