Domestic Violence in Time of War: An Online Rapid Response Survey to Examine the Extent of Domestic Violence in Israeli Society During the Israel-Hamas War

Background

Domestic violence is a widespread phenomenon that exists across population groups, genders, levels of education, and socioeconomic status. However, certain social characteristics that are associated with various population groups, such as crowded housing conditions and extended-family households, can increase the risk of domestic violence or escalate its severity. On October 7th, 2023, the Hamas terrorist organization launched a surprise attack on the Israeli towns and villages bordering on the Gaza Strip, and the Israel-Hamas War broke out. International research indicates that domestic violence escalates in the immediate aftermath of life-threatening events on a national scale, such as natural disasters and wars, with such effects lingering for several years. In January 2024, about four months after the war started, the National Program to Fight Domestic Violence asked the Meyers-JDC-Brookdale Outcomes Team to perform a rapid response survey to provide an up-to-date report about the extent of domestic violence during the war, which would also allow for a comparison between the extent of domestic violence during the current war and during the Covid-19 crisis.

Objectives

To provide an up-to-date report about the extent of domestic violence against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas War, and about the unique risk factors associated with the current crisis. The survey findings can later be used to identify population groups at increased risk, and to provide suitable interventions.

Method

The quantitative study was conducted using a population survey.

Research tool: a self-assessment questionnaire based on a research questionnaire[1] on this topic that was developed during the Covid-19 pandemic. The questionnaire included the following components: background characteristics of the responders; behavioral manifestations of domestic violence; factors that increase the risk of domestic violence; services and methods of interventions (outputs).

Sample: 1,529 responders aged 18+, from a representative sample of Israelis in terms of gender, age, religious affiliation and level of religiosity.

Data and information collection procedure: The survey questionnaire was disseminated in two languages – Hebrew and Arabic. The data was collected between January 28, 2024, and February 26, 2024 (about four months after the war started).

Statistical analysis: For each type of violence, a composite variable was calculated so that each content area could be addressed as an individual factor, simplifying the analysis. In addition, a comparison was made between the findings of the current survey from the first months of the Israel-Hamas War and the findings of the previous survey conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic.

 Findings

• Domestic violence is influenced by various risk-increasing factors: demographic characteristics (gender, age, population group, country of birth, marital status, and sexual orientation); characteristics of the war (harm to the responder or family members from the terrorist attacks or the war); other needs of the responder that are not in themselves manifestations of violence (health status, crowded living conditions, employment and financial status, familial and social relationships, sense of emotional wellbeing).
• The frequency of all types of violent incidents that were examined (verbal, emotional or mental, economic, physical, and sexual) was higher during the Covid-19 pandemic than during the period of the war that was examined.
• Many of the responders who reported that they had been victims of or witnesses to domestic violence, or that they are violent towards their families, did not seek professional help. The main reasons for this were that they did not recognize domestic violence as a problem at all and, furthermore, they did not regard domestic violence as a problem that requires the help and involvement of professionals to resolve it.

Recommendations

• Since the study indicates that many abusive and abused individuals do not seek treatment for domestic violence in their families, mainly because they do not recognize domestic violence as a problem that requires professional intervention, it is vital to raise awareness of the various types and manifestations of domestic violence, as well as to the interventions available for coping with them.
• Considering the recognition that crises exacerbate risk factors for domestic violence, it is recommended to continue conducting surveys about the extent of domestic violence among Israel’s general population in times of crisis.
• In order to recruit subjects for treatment, it is important to identify both abusers and victims of verbal, emotional or mental, and economic domestic abuse (“transparent” types of violence that are difficult to identify), among population groups with characteristics and needs that increase the risk of its occurrence.
• It is recommended that the findings of this study be compared with the findings of a current study on intimate partner violence in routine times being conducted by the Sheatufim NGO through the ERI Institute in collaboration with the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs.
• It is recommended to periodically measure the phenomenon of domestic violence in Israel during routine times, to facilitate follow-up on the extent of the phenomenon and its distribution by types of violence, and to examine trends and changes as well as the factors that increase the risk of escalation of the violence.

[1]For the original research report (Hebrew), see Arazi, T. and Reznikovski-Kuras, A. (2021). Domestic Violence During the Covid-19 Crisis. S-189-21 Myers JDC Brookdale Institute