Yesterday, November 25th, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara, visited WIZO's National Emergency Shelter for women victims of violence and their children, in honor of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
The visit was originally scheduled to last one hour, but Mr. and Mrs. Netanyahu were so deeply engaged, that they ended up spending 2.5 hours at the shelter.
The shelter director, Michal Orion-Sagi, gave an overview of the care the shelter provides to the women and children who seek refuge. This was followed by an extensive and high-level conversation, in which Mr. and Mrs. Netanyahu asked numerous questions about what WIZO thinks should be done to combat the problem of domestic violence.
In the course of the discussion, Prime Minister Netanyahu promised to release significant funding (100 million NIS) to help fight domestic violence, and repeated his promise to establish a national authority that will coordinate governmental efforts in this area.
The prime minister and his wife met with several women and children, residents of the shelter, and were clearly moved by their encounter.
Mr. and Mrs. Netanyahu were hosted by the WIZO leadership including World WIZO President Esther Mor, World WIZO Chairperson Anita Friedman, WIZO Israel Chairperson Ora Korazim, World WIZO CEO, Mira Mines, and others.
Here is the Prime Minister's official press release: https://www.gov.il/en/departments/news/event_wizo251120
Photo credits: Amos Ben Gershom, GPO