Last Saturday, Rainbow 12 aired the docu-drama film “Queen – The Story of Linor AbergilI did not plan to watch the film, the story of the Israeli Miss Tevel is familiar and I knew it would be difficult to watch. The film, Evil and Exploitation were there, but mostly there was a story of a strong woman who was ahead of her time and defeated the same evil.
Abergele’s journey began as a fairy tale, in 1998 she won the Israel Beauty Queen pageant. After winning, at just 17, she flew to Milan to develop an international modeling career. Everyone then knew, whoever wants to succeed has to stamp their feet between the agencies in Italy. Realizing it was not as glamorous as she thought she decided to return to the country and contacted Shlomo Nur, An Israeli travel agent. From that moment the story of the legend became a horror story. Nur convinced Abergil that it would be better for her to drive her to Rome and from there return to Israel. During that trip he raped her with knife threats.
After the brutal rape, with great resourcefulness, the beauty queen managed to convince the rapist to take her to the train station. When she got there she immediately contacted her mother who instructed her to go complain to the police and not take a shower so that the evidence would not be lost. And so she did. Abergele filed a complaint against Nur in Italy and then in Israel. A few weeks later she has already participated in the Miss World pageant, with inside she carries great pain and huge trauma.
I think everyone who lived at that time remembers the press conference, the articles on the subject, the photos from the court and especially the video of the moment of winning and the tears that were later revealed as tears of sadness and not of joy and excitement. I remember as a girl I knew mostly yellow and preferred to keep the details away, in an era before the Mi Tu such stories were mostly in the background. Today I know that Abergel was a breakthrough, only that in Israel in the 1990s they did not understand how much. And instead of echoing the story in girls ‘and girls’ schools, it stays away in the newscasts.
Abergele was raped and did not agree to remain silent, it was clear to her that she was telling her story and that her rapist, Shlomo Nur, should be punished. She sought to have the restraining order lifted because she knew she was not guilty of what had happened and had nothing to be ashamed of, and she was not afraid to say the court was committing her second rape when he asked her to prove she was telling the truth.
There are several lessons in this story – the first and most important: Anyone who has been raped or sexually assaulted is not guilty. You are not to blame for relying on a person’s good, not to blame if you went up to his house, if you were alone with him, and it did not happen because of what you wore or what you broadcast. The second lesson is: Tell your story. Do not be silent, do not be repressed, complain to the police. True, it is not easy and even today, 24 years later, the police and the courts do not make it easier for victims of sexual assault. But you should not keep it to yourself and be ashamed. Anyone who harmed you should be punished. It can set you free and so may also prevent other women from being harmed.
The third lesson, which is equally important, is the strengths and power that our family and specifically the women in our lives have. The film “Queen – The Story of Linor Abergel”, tells not only her story but also the story of her family and in particular the story of her mother and grandmother. Two women who accompanied her and gave her strength and confidence, and complete faith in herself and her way. How important it is to teach our girls and boys that we will always be there and that they can turn to us in time of need. The first phone call Linor made after the rape, the mother’s advice that helped her later prove her past. And the constant embrace of the grandmother and in fact of the whole family that made Abergele always raise his head, neither to fear nor to be ashamed. Because she’s not the one who should.
The film about Linor should be screened in schools and every woman should watch it. It deals not only with sexual assault, but with the power that lies within each and every one of us and our ability to change the world and our narrative. Twenty-four years have passed since Abergele’s rape and story resonated around the world. She has made it a way, helped rape victims around the world tell their story and continues to flood it again and again and change the lives of others. We should all thank her for that.