HaKfar (The Village), a new reality television show in Israel on Channel 10, features five families competing in the desert in conditions supposedly comparable to those during the establishment of the state. But as one young girl watched the show at home, she froze because one of the contestants, David Digmi, is the man that sexually assaulted her 12 years ago. Digmi was originally charged with rape, but the sentence was lowered to “consensual illicit intercourse.” She was only 13 years old at the time, the Times of Israel reports.
Statements criticizing Digmi and Channel 10 came from Na’amat, the Movement of Working Women and Volunteers, and from Dana Pugach, director of the Noga Center for Victims of Crime at Ono Academic College. A Na’amat representative said the participation of a sex offender in a reality TV show was morally unacceptable, since such TV performers are seen as role models, particularly among younger viewers.
Haaretz reports that MK Michal Rosin has called on the Second Authority for Television and Radio, which oversees commercial broadcasting, to bar certain convicted offenders from appearing on reality television, ensuring that future casts are vetted properly. Channel 10’s lawyers claimed that Digmi has paid, legally, for his crime.
Here’s a trailer for the program. But more interesting than its content are the questions its cast member Digmi is raising among Israel’s public.
(Photo from HaKfar Facebook)