No Women’s Day without our female hostages - opinion

I don’t want to hear about March Women’s History Month from organizations and public figures who refuse to mention the young girls, women, and mothers kidnapped by Hamas on October 7.

If you aren’t talking about these female hostages and if you are refusing to condemn the systematic rape and sexual violence that some hostages are still being subjected to, then you don’t deserve to speak at all.

March is International Women’s Month, but for Jewish women right now, this means nothing. Nineteen female hostages remain in Gaza, women just like me, wonderful young women who have done nothing to deserve what happened to them. It could have easily been me or anyone else I know. 

For five months now, Israelis have been forced to endure radio silence from human rights organizations or been subjected to disgusting retorts like “Where is the proof?”

Can never be enough proof

While there is endless forensic and eyewitness testimony, even independently verified, for Jewish victims, there will never be enough proof. 

Now, the United Nations has finally released its report of the disturbing findings of the investigation conducted by UN Special Envoy on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten and her team. 

It took place from January 29-February 14, 2024. The team was composed of nine UN experts, including specialists trained in what they describe as safe and ethical interviewing of survivors/victims and witnesses of sexual violence crimes. There was also a forensic pathologist and a digital and open-source information analyst. 

The report states that the UN team reviewed 5,000 photos and around 50 hours of footage of the attacks, provided by various state agencies, independent private sources, and through an independent online review. The team also spoke to some 34 interviewees, including survivors and witnesses of the October 7 attacks, released hostages, first responders, health and service providers, and others. 

The team found proof of sexual violence in multiple locations around the Gaza periphery and attacks that included rape and gang rape in at least three locations. The team found that several fully naked or partially naked bodies (from the waist down) were recovered – mostly women – “with hands tied and shot multiple times, often in the head.” The team found “reasonable grounds to believe” that most of the sexual violence took place at the Supernova Sukkot Gathering festival where many of the victims were killed while being raped. Road 232, the road that cuts through agricultural fields and connects the kibbutzim, and Kibbutz Re’im, right near the site of the Nova festival, were also two locations where patterns of rape were found to have occurred.

An important line from this report states that “the complexity and modus operandi of the attacks appears to demonstrate a significant level of planning, coordination, and detailed prior knowledge of the targets selected, including civilian ones.” This finding is not surprising since several Hamas terrorists admitted during interrogations that they were instructed to rape women. 

The UN team spoke to individuals who witnessed at least two incidents of rape of women’s lifeless bodies.

We already know everything that the United Nations report has covered and never needed their independent investigation to understand the crimes Hamas committed on October 7. The truth is that even the UN is limited in verifying and understanding the true extent of what happened on that horrible Saturday, since so many victims cannot testify. 

It is what Pramila Patten confirmed about the hostages that adds to the horror. 

Point 85 reads, “With regards to the hostages, the mission team found clear and convincing information that some hostages taken to Gaza have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence and has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing.” 

Nineteen Israeli women are still held hostage by Hamas; 14 are believed to be alive. They are Naama Levy, Noa Argamani, Romi Gonen, Arbel Yehud, Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Doron Steinbrecher, Liri Albag, Daniella Gilboa, Shiri Bibas, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, and Emily Damari. 

As Jewish women, we have been shamefully abandoned. The deafening silence shows us that Jewish women don’t count.

Just imagining what these young, innocent girls are being subjected to by their captors is enough to make me want to scream. Seeing how international organizations purported to support women have said nothing or just made feeble statements for five months is beyond shameful.

There is no Women’s Day without our female hostages. As long as the 19 women – and all the rest of the hostages – remain captive by a ruthless terror group, we have nothing to celebrate.

The writer is a social media activist with more than ten years of experience working for Israeli and Jewish causes and cause-based NGOs. She is the co-founder and COO of Social Lite Creative, a digital marketing firm specializing in geopolitics.