In October 2019, the late social worker Michal Sela was brutally murdered by her partner and the father of her baby daughter. Out of bereavement, Michal’s sister, Lili Ben Ami, decided to act to save the next Michal, the next murdered woman. She founded the “Michal Sela Forum”, an organization that works to save lives and prevent violence against women through innovation, technology and thinking “outside the box”.
It marked the goal of “zero murders a year” and flooded a new public discourse that coined in Israel the slogan: “May Her Memory Be a Revolution”. One of the main goals Lili set was to raise awareness and change the discourse on domestic violence – from a discourse of problems and victimhood to a discourse of solutions, solidarity and powerfulness.
The forum hosted huge competitions to invent tech life-saving startups for women captured by violence, ‘hackatons’, accelerators, innovative projects such as “Michal Selah Dogs” for the protection of threatened women, educational programs and national public campaigns including “Five Warning Signs in Relationships”. Lili has played a key role in the most significant legislation in the field of domestic violence in recent years – the denial of guardianship to a parent convicted of murder or attempted murder of his spouse.
Lili, who has become an overnight fighter for women affected by violence, personally supports and strengthens many women who are in abusive relationships and is constantly working with dedication and a deep sense of mission to save lives and prevent the next murder.