The article is an opinion column as part of a collaboration with Obitar
The broad social condemnation, the reluctance to return the footballers to their previous professional status, are all based on a lack of knowledge of the facts and the relevant law, argues Attorney Sheklar.
First, the age of sexual maturity in Israel is 16 years. From the age of 16, any girl is allowed to any person of any age, provided that the relationship was consensual.
The fact that the catalogers refer to girls at the age of 16 as ‘girls’ is only true in the eyes of the beholder. In France the age of sexual maturity is 15. This matter depends on culture and our culture is conservative.
There is no factual dispute that the relationship between the minors and the footballers was by mutual consent and by the will of the minors, who even bothered and repeatedly tricked their ‘sport idols’ – by declaring they were 17.5 years old – in order to bring them closer to the top of Olympus.
From the investigation material it became clear that Atzili and Micah repeatedly asked about the age of the minors and they pretended to be sexually mature whenever they were asked about it, and hence it cannot be claimed that they turned a blind eye.
That famous ‘powder’, which they were supposed to consume together with the minors, was never consumed, and therefore there is no resentment at all for an offense that was not committed, and was abandoned at the most in the general idea stage.
The dispute about the nature of that ‘powder’, whether it is a health powder, a protein for athletes, or a ‘happiness powder’ of one kind or another, is irrelevant, when there is no doubt that no drugs were consumed at all during the heated meeting.
The element of exploitation remains. Allegedly, the famous sports idols took advantage of underage girls for sex.
In my opinion, this is an anachronistic and sacrificial approach that should be discarded, if only considering the dignity of the woman and her right to her body and equality between the sexes and the autonomy of free will. The question is who took advantage of whom?
The right of a sexually mature woman, from the age of 16, to sleep with whoever she wants. Young female fans want to sleep with rock stars, sports stars and celebrities of all genders and types and the phenomenon is known and recognized all over the world.
As far as free will is concerned, the taste of others is irrelevant.
Morality and law are intertwined. The sentence contains the basic moral rules that can be precisely defined. Airtelian moral rules are subjective and can be interpreted by taste and smell. Everyone and their preferences. Morality is flexible. The law is clear.
As long as a person’s actions are legal – he has nothing to apologize for.
Therefore, the sacrificial approach of Atzili and Micah in their investigation is an understandable approach in my opinion. They are indeed the victims of a malicious age scam of the minors on the one hand, a scam that entangled them in a criminal investigation, and of social hypocrisy on the other hand, a hypocrisy that is expressed in cries about values and morals, cries that are based on the tastes and values of the callers only and on foreign interests.
Atzili and Micah’s apology is also tongue-in-cheek, and is intended to capture the will of the moral screechers and the cackling.
Atzili and Micah paid a very heavy price for nothing.
The article is part of a collaboration with Obitar, if you find an error in the article, you are welcome to send the correction to the email: [email protected]
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The article is courtesy of the legal portal obiter.co.il
To visit Adv. Yaakov Sheklar’s website, click here