The Israeli government has unanimously approved the proposal of the Minister of Public Security, Gilad Erdan, for the establishment of MAOR – a national program for the prevention of online violence and crime against children and teens. The new project will be a combined array of citizens and the Israeli Police. It will promote the enforcement and prevention of crime and violence on the Internet, including social networks, with a focus on violence and crime against children and teens.
According to the proposal, the government has decided to “lead a determined and effective battle against violence and crime on the Internet, especially focusing on violence and crime against children and teens with the aim of creating an overall secure virtual environment”. MAOR will also act to achieve the following objectives:
- Raising awareness toward safer web surfing through informational and prevention programs.
- Creating a “uniform address” responsive to public queries, especially for instances of online crime and cyberbullying against children and adolescents.
- Increasing deterrence against online crimes against children and adolescents.
- Increasing public trust and the public’s sense of security.
The MAOR project will consist of, among others, an executive staff that will manage the project, a national online dispatch center (including a “hotline” and a designated website that will operate a reporting button), a specialized police unit designated to fight online crime against minors, as well as an advocacy project focused on prevention and education.
The Ministry of Public Security noted that in the recent years the crimes most disturbing to the Israeli public are offenses harmful to quality of life, in which the subset of online crimes were rated the as most disturbing. Erdan has added that it is not always clear to the public where they should turn in a given case, or if a given case is a violation at all. Therefore, the establishment of a governmental program focused on providing solutions to instances of online violence and crime and creating a unified point of contact is of great importance. Source: The Ministry of Public Security (press release in Hebrew).