The Israeli Jane Doe Assembly Line

Over the past week, almost anyone who opened TikTok, Instagram, or another social media platform came across the trending hashtag #JaneDoe. Countless videos show women across the globe expressing sympathy with Jane Doe – an anonymous student at Cornell University in the US who was allegedly exploited, coerced into using drugs such as Ketamine while under the influence of alcohol, and sexually assaulted by a group of seven male students for over four straight hours.

This viral wave of solidarity with Jane Doe and rage towards the university aims at protecting her anonymity and was ignited by a lawsuit she filed against Cornell, accusing the institution of failing to protect female students, covering up the assault, and imposing inadequate disciplinary measures, to say the least, against the 7 students and 50 other individuals who knew of the assault as it unfolded and did nothing – ranging from writing reflection papers on the assault to a mere handful of suspensions and expulsions.

This public outrage has now reached Israel, opening a window to address a remarkably similar issue at home: the persistent systemic failure to protect victims of sexual violence and violence against women, their anonymity, their freedom, and their lives.

We are all Jane Doe until NOBODY is Jane Doe. https://t.co/DcILVCng21

— Meidas_Charise Lee (@charise_lee) October 2, 2026

A little spoiler alert, just before we start. The man sitting in the Israeli Ministry of National Security, responsible for the police, among others, is Itamar Ben-Gvir. To those of you who are not familiar, most of Ben-Gvir’s work throughout his four years on the job focused on lowering the legal criteria to issue a firearm carry permit and on managing an incredibly active TikTok account, considering he is paid a minister’s salary and not a TikTok influencer’s, so much so that he was given the questionable title “Minister of TikTok”, courtesy of the Israeli opposition leaders.

On this matter, Ben Gvir was interviewed on Galatz Radio Station by Amit Tomer and Goni Cohen and was asked how many women were killed last year. In response, Ben Gvir said, “I know none of them were murdered by my weapons!”, regarding the obscene number of gun carry permits his policy helped issue. Later, he admitted, “I don’t have the exact number”; a few seconds later, he claimed it was 18 women, and then the interviewer responded and revealed the official number is 31. Knesset Member Meirav Ben-Ari later posted a statement according to which three women were murdered using permitted weapons between January and September 2025. And this is just the start of a wider issue.

כשמוציאים ציוץ כזה חשוב לומר את האמת לציבור ולא רק את השקרים שהוא מספר ברדיו.

וכעת לעובדות:
לפי נתוני משטרת ישראל שהוצגו בכנסת בספטמבר 2025, עד אותו מועד,
21 נשים נרצחו באמצעות נשק חם. מתוכן 3 בנשק ברישיון ו־18 בנשק בלתי חוקי.

ממש לא מסובך, היום הכל כתוב.

— מירב בן ארי????Merav Ben Ari (@Meravbenari) September 22, 2026

One of the basic problems in the government policy regarding sexual violence and violence against women is that there is no policy. When a victim tries to file a police report on such an attack, they often encounter judgmental responses from the officers, who minimize the issue, and in several incidents, the victims face secondary traumatization by the officers who are supposed to protect them. For example, a case published on December 31st, 2024 in Ma’ariv by Alon Hakmon involving a male officer who, while investigating a mentally ill woman, asked her for intimate photos of her chest, made her remove parts of her clothing under the claim that a search for “implants” was required, and asked to inspect her genitals while suggesting he would do so at her house.

Another case published on October 8th, 2021 as part of a multi-story article in N12 by Michal Peilan involves the testimony of Noam Shuster Eliassi’s, who came to the Jerusalem Police Station to report a man who filmed her through a crack in the wall while using the bathroom in a local bar. A few weeks after filing a police report, Shuster received a call from a female officer at the station. “Listen, Noam, the suspect… I just interrogated him. I have to tell you, he is good-looking, handsome like that. Look, he doesn’t look to me like the kind of guy who does that”.

These two incidents are far from being a singular phenomenon, and they join an endless list of others, which, when stacked up like that, lead to a fear of the very attempt to use the police on those cases. And when the authority can’t and won’t help, the victims turn to various third-party organizations and shelters to protect them and assist with sexual trauma or an abusive partner. Those third parties include the ARCCI (The Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel) hotline 1202, the National Hotline for Victims of Domestic Violence, and others. However, these are only first aid in those cases. They can offer immediate crisis intervention, counseling, and even discreet evacuation of the victim to various shelters, but cannot provide a long-term solution, protection from the attacker, or any other measures to stop the attacker from repeating their actions. And worse of all – they are all civilian initiatives, with zero help from the government.

And there lies the problem. A system that cannot contain the emotional complexity of sexual violence is unaware of its nature and has made itself an impossible institution to address when these incidents happen. A place that might only make the situation worse for the victims. And after giving up on the help of the police, victims are left with a wide variety of temporary solutions that cannot protect them in the long term. And just like that, the government, with its neglectful policy, has made the Israeli environment the perfect place for more and more Jane Does to be born. Women are left to avoid a hostile police force, join the endless waiting lists of unsupported civil organizations, and be sentenced to a life of shame and fear. And the abusers? The attackers? Those no one dared to report? They live among us freely.

I am Jane Doe. We are all Jane Doe.