Singer and creator Shay-Li Atari Wiener, together with the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ARCCI), petitioned the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday to lift a gag order preventing the publication of the name of the man accused of raping Atari Wiener in 2011.
The artist filed a police complaint three and a half years ago, prompting the reopening of the investigation into the incident after more than a decade.
Despite the renewed probe, the suspect has remained shielded by a sweeping publication ban – an order the petitioners say was issued without evidentiary justification and in violation of the principle of open justice.
According to the ARCCI, additional women have since approached Atari Wiener with claims that they, too, were harmed by the same individual.
Ahead of the hearing, ARCCI activists gathered outside the courthouse in a public show of support. The demonstration accompanied the legal effort, underscoring what organizers described as a broader struggle against systemic silencing of survivors within the criminal justice process.
ARCCI CEO Orit Sulitzeanu criticized the continued secrecy surrounding the suspect, calling the gag order “a reward for the rapist.”
“It is inconceivable that the principle of public hearings was breached in this case without any justification,” she said. “Shay-Li is courageously fighting for her right to express her position against the degrading decision to grant anonymity to the man who harmed her. We call on the court to revoke the prohibition on publishing his name.”
Atari Wiener’s advocacy for survivors of sexual assault
The hearing comes amid Atari Wiener’s growing public advocacy on behalf of sexual assault survivors – advocacy shaped by both personal trauma and national tragedy. A survivor of the October 7 Hamas massacre at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, she escaped with her infant daughter while her husband, filmmaker Yahav Wiener, was killed while fending off the attackers.
In recent months, she has spoken openly about how the prolonged handling of her sexual assault complaint, including the ease with which anonymity was granted to the suspect, compounded her trauma.
Testifying earlier this week before the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality, Atari Wiener described the experience of enforced silence as “a second assault,” arguing that victims are excluded from decisions that directly affect their dignity and safety.
Together with the ARCCI, she has helped draft proposed legislation that would require authorities to notify survivors of requests for gag orders in sexual offense cases and allow them to present their position to the court.
A decision on the request to lift the gag order is expected at a later date.