Brig. Gen. Ofek Buchris
Brig. Gen. Ofek BuchrisFlash 90

For many years, there has been a tendency to ridicule any attempt to claim that the radical left wing is connected with the gender movement and false allegations filed by women against men.

It seems, however, that two developments in the last two weeks lend credence to this very suspicion.

Journalist and TV-radio presenter Jacky Levy devoted his latest column in Israel Hayom to last week's Justice Ministry decision to change Prosecution Instruction 2.5, which had, for the last 12 years, effectively given a free pass to women who file false charges against men. The new version of the instruction makes it possible to file charges against women who file false charges, either in the course of divorce battles or in other situations.

Levy wrote that a new study by Dr. Yoav Mazeh, which was sponsored by the Kohelet Forum, found that between 30 and 70 percent of allegations of violence and sexual abuse of children filed during divorce procedures turned out to be false.

The Kohelet Forum is "a body with a right-wing agenda," added Levy. "They are the only ones who sought to find out the truth about false allegations. I'm not even asking what could possibly be the connection between the left/right debate and the matter of false allegations. But I have my own guesses, and they are connected to the entire matter of the myth of victimhood."

Another hint to a possible link between the politics of left and right and false allegations was provided by Attorney Mirit Antebi, who was involved in the process of reformulating Instruction 2.5. Antebi noted with satisfaction that the primary complainant against Brig. Gen. Ofek Buchris has reportedly taken back her claim that he raped her. Antebi estimated that this was a reaction to the change in policy that makes it likely that false complaints will be prosecuted.

"There is no doubt that the amendment of the instruction, the Supreme Court's precedent-setting decision against the group that conspired to file false rape allegations against a lawyer, and additional steps that are in the offing, mean that we are definitely on the way to stamping out the plague of false accusations," she wrote.

"I call upon the Prosecution to put the newly formulated instruction to the test, and place the false accuser on trial. The day is not far, when this murderous weapon of false accusations will disappear!"

As a senior IDF officer who grew up in the religious Zionist camp, Buchris is considered to be a figure whose career the radical left would be happy to ruin. Generally speaking, most of the public figures who have faced public or criminal accusations of improper sexual behavior have come from the right wing. The near-sole exception to this rule was ex-minister Haim Ramon of Kadima, who was put on trial for kissing a female soldier in 2006.

At the time, Ramon was Minister of Justice, and was embroiled in a head-on confrontation with then-Supreme Court president Dorit Beinisch. Beinisch also co-authored Instruction 2.5.