Israel's Netanyahu says 'women are animals..with rights' in a speech, clarification issued

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has found himself in a controversy after he mistakenly compared women with animals. The Israeli prime minister was addressing a conference at the Knesset (Israel's legislative body) on stopping violence against women. Making a verbal gaffe, Netanyahu referred to women as animals with rights. According to International media, the statement from Netanyahu came in presence of his wife Sara and the representatives of women’s groups.

Speaking at the event marking 'International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women', Netanyahu said, "Women aren’t animals that you can beat, and today, we say you don’t hit animals either. We understand that animals, too, have the understanding and intelligence and cognition and feelings. We rightly have compassion for animals. Well, women are animals, children are animals – with rights."

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According to The Jerusalem Post, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office later said his comments were taken out of context and that Netanyahu gave an example of animal abuse but not intended to compare the two.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu, who spoke from the bottom of his heart today about women's rights and against any violation of them, only gave an example of abuse in a small part of his speech when he also spoke about harm to animals, but in no way intended to compare them," the Israeli PMO said in a statement, as reported by the Jerusalem Post.

The Prime Minister's address on stopping violence against women was in the context of the surge in the number of cases against women in Israel. The country had witnessed a rise in domestic violence, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper citing Social Affairs Ministry data said the number of domestic violence complaints has tripled since the coronavirus erupted in March.

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