Murder of Michal Sela

Michal Sela (Hebrew: מיכל סלה) was an Israeli social worker who worked with at-risk youth in Jerusalem. After she was murdered by her husband in 2019, she has been featured in public education and awareness campaigns, and her sister Lili Ben Ami founded the Michal Sela Forum, a nonprofit organization focused on the development of technology and services to prevent domestic violence and abuse.

Michal Sela

Murder

Sela was stabbed to death on October 2, 2019,[1] at her home in Motza.[2] In 2021, her husband Eliran Malul was convicted of murder. In December 2021, Malul was sentenced to life in prison.[3]

Sela and Malul had a daughter who was eight months old at the time of Sela's death. Family members of Sela publicly advocated for an amendment to the Guardianship Law in Israel to automatically remove guardianship rights for the children of parents who murder or attempt to murder the other parent in domestic abuse situations.[4] The amendment was enacted in 2021 and resulted in the removal of guardianship rights from Eliran Malul.[4]

Victim

Sela was born in Moshav Beit Zeit, the fourth of six children born to Daniela and Raphael Sela. She earned her Master of Social Work degree from the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem[5] a few days before her death.[6] Sela worked with at-risk youth as a social worker in Jerusalem.[2]

Legacy

Sela was one of the victims featured in the installation titled She's Gone,[6] which displays the clothing of women murdered by their partners, and was shown in Tel Aviv in 2019[7] as well as in the United Nations office in Geneva in 2022.[8] In 2021, an artificial version of Sela appeared in a video created by artificial intelligence as part of an Israeli public education campaign against domestic violence.[9]

Michal Sela Forum
Main article: Michal Sela Forum

In 2020, Lili Ben Ami, her sister, founded the nonprofit Michal Sela Forum (MSF) to develop technology to help prevent domestic violence.[10][11][3] In 2020, MSF hosted a Safe@Home hackathon focused on developing technology.[10][12] Following the hackathon, MSF continued an accelerator phase of the project.

In 2021, MSF co-sponsored a United Nations event titled "Terror at Home: Fighting Domestic Violence with Innovation and Technology" and received a $300,000 grant from Google.org to continue developing technology after the 2021 Safe@Home hackathon.[13][14] In 2021, the Forum participated in a collaboration between Israel and Australia titled Preventing Domestic Violence through Innovation and Technology.[15] MSF has also developed a defense dog project, to distribute trained "Michal Sela dogs" to women threatened with harm.[16]

In 2022, MSF partnered with Meta to develop the Hebrew-language interface for technology designed to reduce the spread of revenge porn.[11] Also in 2022, MSF partnered with the Ministry of Public Security in Israel to develop and deploy a pilot program to protect women and children at risk of harm, including a Sayeret Michal ("Michal Special Forces") security program and services that include trained defense dogs.[17]

References
  1. Rabinowitz, Aaron (13 November 2019). "Israeli Man Indicted for Brutal Murder of Wife in Front of Baby". Haaretz. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  2. "Man convicted in 2019 murder of his wife in Jerusalem suburb". The Times of Israel. 6 October 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  3. Shtotland, Ilana (24 March 2022). "Michal Sela Forum: Saving lives, preventing domestic violence with tech". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  4. Uriel-Beeri, Tamar (28 January 2021). "Michal Sela's husband loses guardianship of children after murdering his wife". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  5. Late Michal Sela. Retrieved 21 November 2022. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  6. "Michal Sela Murdered on Thursday, October 3rd, 2019 She was 32 years old". She’s Gone. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  7. Uriel-Beeri, Tamar (25 November 2019). "Tel Aviv municipality displays clothes of women murdered by spouses". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  8. "Israeli exhibition about violence against women premiers at Geneva UN office". The Jerusalem Post. 24 September 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  9. Williams, Dan (25 November 2021). "'I was murdered': video brings domestic violence victims back to life to warn others". Reuters. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  10. Tsapovsky, Flora (6 August 2020). "Israeli Hackers Develop Tech to Combat Domestic Violence". Wired. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  11. Winer, Stuart (3 August 2022). "Anti-revenge porn tech launches in Hebrew, allowing digital tagging of images". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  12. Uriel-Beeri, Tamar (21 May 2020). "Facebook official lauds Israeli domestic violence hackathon efforts". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  13. Falk, Pamela (18 March 2021). ""Wonder Woman" joins U.S., Israel and Google in call for high-tech fight against domestic violence". CBS News. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  14. Chemla, Sarah (18 March 2021). "UN Ambassadors Erdan, Thomas-Greenfield join forces against domestic violence". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  15. Lowenstein, Nitza (24 June 2021). "Fighting Domestic Violence with Hi-tech (English) Lili Ben Ami, founder of Michal Sela Forum, Collaboration between Israel & Australia". SBS. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  16. Young, Eve (24 July 2021). "Woman's best friend: Attack dog to defend victim of domestic abuse". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  17. "Preventing domestic violence through technology and innovation". Ministry of Public Security (Israel). 8 September 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
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