Activists protest UN Women’s silence on Hamas sexual violence allegations

Activists with the New York Hostages Families Forum gathered on Monday morning in New York in front of the United Nations Women headquarters in protest of the organization's failure to acknowledge the sexual violence committed against Israeli women on October 7. 

The protest comes exactly a week after the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women and the beginning of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, which is recognized by the US. 

Thirteen demonstrators called attention to the 13 women remaining hostage by dressing in white and covering their mouths with duct tape. 

“Please close your eyes for a moment and imagine: Imagine it is you. You are ripped from your home. You, enduring 423 days—14 months—a year and two months of violence and isolation. Imagine the pain. The fear. The helplessness," Lian Weiss, a relative of hostage Arbel Yehoud, said. "How would you feel? How would you survive?"

Every moment of delay is another moment of agony for these women, Weiss added. 

UN Women's silence 'despicable'

It is despicable that UN Women have remained silent and inactive, influencer and activist Lizzy Savetsky said. 

"Their silence is deafening," she said, accusing the organization of discriminating against Israeli women. 

Last Monday, more than 60 ideologically and religiously diverse American and international Jewish organizations penned a letter to the UN arguing the body should declare Hamas's "documented systematic weaponization of sexual violence" a crime against humanity. 

Leading organizations behind the letter said the UN found compelling evidence of widespread gender-based and sexual violence against women and girls committed during the attacks on October 7. 

“Despite this overwhelming body of evidence, the UN has yet to list Hamas in the Annex to the Report of the Secretary-General as a party credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict,” the letter said

The organizations urged the UN to take “swift action” to hold Hamas accountable and send a “clear signal to the world that sexual violence against women and girls will never be tolerated or excused.”