'Rape is not resistance': Maccabi World Union launches Global Women’s Forum

The Maccabi World Union (MWU) announced the launch of their Global Women’s Forum on Friday morning at their annual Congress in Kfar Maccabiah, at their campus in Ramat Gan.

The organization said the forum aims to promote women’s voices and increase female leadership in over 100 cities.

Established unofficially at the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the Women’s Forum's primary mission is to increase international pressure for the immediate release of the female hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for over 200 days.

The forum also plans to continue awareness campaigns on the acts of sexual violence committed against Israeli women kidnapped by Hamas. They plan to do this through a global social media campaign, the MWU Honorary Secretary and one of the forum’s founders, Shirit Saks Haim, said. 

'Rape is never and will never be resistance'

“Sexual assault is never ok, sexual violence is never ok, rape is never and will never be resistance," Sheryl Sandberg, the former chief operating officer of Facebook, said in a pre-recorded message screened at the announcement. "No matter what you believe should happen in the Middle East, all of us should be able to come together to condemn the sexual violence of October 7.”

Before the forum’s official establishment, the members helped promote “Screams Before Silence,” a film co-created and produced by Sandberg that showcases testimonies from first responders, experts, and prisoners of war who were taken hostage by Hamas and returned from captivity. Their stories spoke largely on the matter of sexual abuse while in captivity.

“So many years after we established that we believe women, too many people are ignoring, or even worse, denying history, and that’s why this film is so important,” Sandberg said in her message. 

“I have been a member of Maccabi for many years. For years I was a female minority with a unique voice.  When looking around at nations, communities, business organizations and movements, it is clear that a change from a men’s leading world to an equal contributing leadership needs to happen and is already happening in some places,” said former MK and Deputy Chairman of MWU, Orly Froman.

MWU Honorary Secretary Shirit Saks Haim told the participants about the global campaign on social media, in the media, in various cities around the world and among policymakers that women in the movement have been leading since the beginning of the war to raise awareness of the sexual terrorism that was and continues to be used daily against Israeli women who fell into the hands of Hamas on October 7. 

Ronit Neaman, the head of the MWU European desk, said the forum plans to increase its efforts to recruit female leaders across MWU’s most active regions. 

Neaman also said that forum participants will meet annually to share various achievements, challenges, and opportunities.