Why don't women's orgs call to free Israeli women held hostage in Gaza? - opinion

In my “MeToo… ” column, published before the recent ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange, I called out all those women’s groups that have remained silent about the sexual atrocities perpetrated against women and girls on October 7 by Hamas terrorists.

Now those same groups are largely silent about the young women who survived October 7 only to be savagely kidnapped into Gaza, where 17 still remain in captivity, although the hostage deal stated that Hamas would prioritize the release of women and children. 

Barbaric sexual attacks, including rape, were all part of Hamas’s plan on October 7, as confirmed in the UK daily The Times: “The terrorists were ‘on a mission’ to carry out sexual attacks on October 7.” 

Sickening, corroborative, first-hand accounts have come to light, some of which were shared in The Times article last week. 

Women suffering through unimaginable horrors

Yoni Saadon, 39, witnessed scenes of unimaginable horror as he hid under the stage at the Supernova Music Festival while the massacre took place: “I saw this beautiful woman with the face of an angel and eight or 10 of the fighters beating and raping her.

She was screaming, ‘Stop it already! I’m going to die anyway from what you are doing, just kill me!’ When they finished, they were laughing, and the last one shot her in the head.”

The horror continued as Saadon later hid in some bushes, from where he saw two more Hamas fighters: “They had caught a young woman near a car and she was fighting back, not allowing them to strip her. They threw her to the ground and one of the terrorists took a shovel and beheaded her and her head rolled along the ground… ” 

In case there was any doubt surrounding the accounts of those who survived the attacks and have been brave enough to speak out, the article continues: “The first indications came on the day itself, when Hamas live-streamed some of the horrors it was perpetrating. Footage showed several women stripped of their clothing. One video showed a young woman with bloodstains on the crotch of her underwear.”

Bloodstains were also highly visible on the crotch area of the sweatpants worn by 19-year-old Naama Levy as, bloodied and bound, she was dragged by her hair from the trunk of a car and forced onto the backseat as a group of men watched. Some used their phones to film her brutal kidnapping into Gaza, where she remains to this day. 

THE RECENT ceasefire gave everyone some respite from the horrors as hostilities paused for seven days while 105 hostages were released from captivity in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. The country breathed a collective sigh of relief as a number of families were reunited with their loved ones.

For others, however, including 17 women and their families, the nightmare continues.

Although the hostage deal stated that Hamas would prioritize the release of children and civilian women, when the time came for these women to be released, the deal fell apart. According to US officials, this is likely because of the sexual violence perpetrated by the terrorists on these women, which Hamas does not want revealed.

When asked about the growing body of evidence of Hamas rape and sexual abuse on October 7, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller replied, “One of the reasons they don’t want to turn women over they’ve been holding hostage, and the reason this pause fell apart, is they don’t want those women to be able to talk about what happened to them during their time in custody.” 

Significantly, a doctor who treated some of the released hostages reported that at least 10 of them were sexually abused by Hamas in captivity.

As Miller went on to say, “There is very little that I would put beyond Hamas when it comes to its treatment of civilians and particularly its treatment of women.”

A SIGNIFICANT portion of Gazan women have long suffered gender-based violence, including physical, sexual, and verbal abuse.

There is no law prohibiting violence against women within the family, including sexual violence. As women are actively discouraged from filing complaints of abuse, this continues at an alarming rate, with 51% of married women in Gaza admitting to being the victims of some form of violence by their husbands.

Another gender-based form of violence that is tacitly allowed by the Hamas government is honor killing: the murder of women and girls accused of immoral sexual conduct. Hamas has also implemented a “code of modesty” in Gaza, which restricts what women can do and wear in public. Using a male hairdresser, learning to drive without the presence of a man, and even submitting complaints of incest are all prohibited by law in Gaza under Hamas rule. 

DESPITE ALL the evidence – including their own video footage – Hamas still rejects accusations of rape and sexual violence, calling them “unfounded lies.”

The fact remains, however, that this terror group is still holding 17 women captive in Gaza.

All of these women are young (save for one 70-year-old) and attractive. Given what we know about Hamas and the gender-based violence they meted out on October 7, as well as the appalling way in which they treat their own women, the fact that they have refused to release these women is a cause for major concern. 

“Joy Divisions” spring to mind – where groups of Jewish women were kept for the sexual pleasure of Nazi soldiers – as one cannot escape the incontrovertible evidence that Hamas terrorists are using these women for their sexual gratification, just as the Nazis did, some 80 years prior.

And yet, in spite of it all – the rapes, the beheadings, the genital mutilation, the kidnapping of women and girls, and so on – it has taken almost two months for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN Women to issue condemnations of these inhuman, gender-based atrocities.

Further, many other women’s groups and celebrities, such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Michelle Obama, who were extremely vocal in support of the MeToo movement, have yet to follow suit. 

The question is: Why aren’t they calling from the rooftops for the release of their Israeli sisters from the jaws of the terrorist group Hamas?

Why aren’t they marching through the streets of Western capitals to highlight their plight?

What sets these Israeli women apart from all others for whom they’ve advocated in the past, whether it be in respect of a light yet unwanted touch on the arm or a very real threat of violence? Why the silence in the wake of the unspeakable gender-based attacks of October 7 by Hamas, in whose hands 17 women (and two children) remain?

Pakistani American Muslim women’s rights activist Anila Ali addressed this question in Israel Hayom magazine with her withering rebuke: “Because the victims are Jewish women, you’re selective? You can’t choose victims and decide that you only support the rights of women who aren’t Israelis. 

“Even if you don’t agree politically with everything that’s happening here, you must stand up for the truth. The world needs to wake up from its hypocrisy. And to the women held captive in Gaza, I say – don’t be afraid, you will be heroines when you return.”

From her mouth to God’s ears, as the saying goes. Let’s pray that very soon we’ll be giving these Israeli women who remain captive in Gaza, and all of the remaining hostages, a heroes’ welcome. 

The writer is a former lawyer from Manchester, England. She now lives in Israel where she works at The Jerusalem Post.