OP-ED: The “feminist” silence on Hamas’ Oct. 7 rapes is shameful

Sue-Ann Levy writes, "A just-released report from Jerusalem’s Bar Ilan University says there was clear evidence of widespread sexual violence perpetrated on Oct. 7/23 at the Nova Music Festival."

Source: Wikimedia Commons (Oren Rozen, Nov. 6, 2024)

Author: Sue-Ann Levy

A just-released report from Jerusalem’s Bar Ilan University says there was clear evidence of widespread sexual violence perpetrated on Oct. 7/23 at the Nova Music Festival, along a highway, on a military base and at three kibbutzim.

The 84-page Dinah project report says rape victims were found partially or fully naked with their hands tied to tree or poles and that there was evidence of gang rapes followed by execution and genital mutilation.

The study also confirmed that sexual violence continued for those taken hostage into Gaza.

Those released recounted stories of forced nudity, physical and verbal sexual harassment, sex assaults and even being threatened with forced marriage.

The Dinah project was headed by leading legal and gender experts to lay bare the Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) on Oct. 7 and after and to force accountability for what occurred.

Its advisory board included such notables as actress Gal Gadot and author Noa Tishby, along with four Canadians the most noteworthy being Raheel Raza and Deborah Lyons.

Although many victims were either murdered after the assaults or are still too traumatized to talk, the evidence was gathered from survivors who were subjected to attempted rape or who witnessed sexual violence.

Some 17 witnesses described incidents of sexual assaults which included gang rapes and mutilation.

First responders also provided testimony on dozens of cases involving clear signs of sexual violence, as did morgue attendants.

Many videos and photos showed sexual humiliation and assault—some of these recounted at the Nova Exhibit I recently attended in Toronto.

The report says that in most cases, the rape victims were murdered during or immediately after the sex assault.

There were also heinous reports of rapes continuing after the victim had died. Many included descriptions of extreme cases of mutilation of Israeli victims.

According to the report, first responders found bodies with objects inserted into their private parts, bodies of naked women cuffed onto trees, bodies with evidence of shots fired or burns in the genital areas and bodies of partly or fully naked women lying with their genitalia exposed.

One audio tape released by the IDF was a call between a Hamas terrorist (an UNRWA worker) and his officer about a female captive brought back to Gaza.

She was referred to as a “pedigree mare” and possible sexual slave.

However harrowing the evidence, this report is the most conclusive and thorough one done since Oct. 7 that points to the clear use of sexual violence and other horrors during the Hamas attack on Israel.

It should put to rest the sick and twisted denial by those—including a network of several anti-Semitic doctors in Canada — who refuse to believe that young women were raped and murdered most violently by these animals.

But it won’t.

The world’s feminists, who raised their voices loudly during the #MeToo movement, have been absolutely and shamefully silent about these horrors.

The report’s authors say it was done to ensure “recognition and justice” for the victims and survivors of the “monstrous attack” and the deliberate acts of CRSV intended to totally dehumanize Israelis.

They mince no words when they say this sexual violence were “crimes against humanity” which deserves international condemnation — not the denial, lies and shameless silence we’ve seen from many quarters.

”International law now recognizes that CRSV is an intentional tool employed to dehumanize its direct victims and spread fear and degrade the group,” the report says.

”The Dinah Project report …establishes that Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon, as part of a genocidal scheme and with the goal of terrorizing and dehumanizing Israeli society.”