"Nonsense" - this is what Hanan Ashrawi, Ph.D. of English literature and the first woman elected to the PLO Central Committee and the Palestinian Legislative Council, called the horrifying mass rape of Jewish and Israeli girls and women of all ages by Hamas terrorists on Saturday morning, October 7.
Ashrawi's reaction is deeply disturbing, mainly because she is a feminist activist who has taken part in peace initiatives by Israeli and Palestinian women. But unfortunately, her position also reflects the prevailing mood in many communities that espouse feminism and human rights, not only in the Arab world but in the entire Western world.
The evidence of mass rape is heard. They are told by the pathologists who treated the hundreds of bodies, the ZAKA personnel who collected them, people who were there, and the pictures and videos that were distributed around the world. Even Hamas terrorists admitted to carrying out their orders to rape Jewish women.
It is difficult to hear, let alone see, the signs of rape. It's hard to even think that such a thing happened. This difficulty largely serves the sweeping denial voiced by human rights organizations, feminist organizations, and LGBT organizations, including major international organizations. Details of the massacre are already omitted from various reports around the world. In a student newspaper at Yale University in the United States, for example, the editor censored "unsubstantiated allegations" about rape and beheadings. This choice is in fact a denial of attempted genocide, including systematic rapes.
In 2008, the UN Security Council determined that rape is considered a war crime, a crime against humanity, or an element of genocide, when a person of one nationality sexually assaults someone of another nationality in an area of conflict. The UN has been a voice for Yazidi women, women in Rwanda, Congo, Bosnia and Egypt, and has also condemned the use of rape as a weapon by Iranian authorities.
But in relation to the brutal and mass rape and torture of Jewish women and children, UN Women displayed startling indifference; His response came very late, and only after public pressure, and finally referred in general to "violence on both sides."
There are many complex dilemmas in defining rape as a hate crime or an act of terrorism. One of the main ones is the fear of racist labeling of publics, usually religious or ethnic minorities, as sexual predators, as has indeed happened throughout history. In Israel, rape is almost always defined as a purely criminal act. In order to be recognized as an act of terrorism or a hate crime, the victim must prove the intention behind the act. And this is true for women of all different nationalities.
There is a reason why there is a unique definition in the law of a hate crime, so those who commit it carry a double penalty. People who experience hate crimes report feeling humiliated not only by the violent acts themselves, but also by national, ethnic, gender or religious degradation. Therefore, defining rape as a hate crime is a necessary social statement – but it is not enough.
It is difficult to hear, let alone see, the signs of rape. It's hard to even think that such a thing happened. This difficulty largely serves the sweeping denial voiced by human rights organizations, feminist organizations, and LGBT organizations, including major international organizations
When sexual violence is used against a woman from one national group by a person from another national group, it becomes an act of terrorism. This is because it is intended to intimidate all women from the same group. However, in the name of fear of being labeled racist, such recognition is absent in most cases (long before October 7), and thus, the public sphere in many places in Israel and around the world becomes a space for sexual terror against women.
The events of October 7 were extreme by any standard, but even those are still denied by some. Those who are raped are often murdered afterwards, and they cannot tell their stories and demand justice after the horrific injustice done to them. Even if it is difficult if not impossible to talk about rape, their voices must be heard. And that task lies with us.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us