Women’s Rights Groups Silent on Hamas Sexual Violence, Analysis Shows

Ten prominent women’s rights groups created more than nine times as many Twitter posts supporting Gaza than acknowledging Hamas’ sexual brutalization of Israeli women, independent by the Daily Citizen found, revealing a woeful lack of support from groups who claim to “believe all women.”

Background

Eyewitness accounts and women’s brutalized bodies paint an increasingly horrifying picture of the sexual atrocities the terrorist group Hamas committed in Israel on October 7th.

Israeli authorities have documented and published evidence of gang rape, genital mutilation and necrophilia.

Murdered women were found with bloody or missing clothes, shattered pelvises, gun shot wounds through their breasts, and foreign objects in their genitalia, Israeli first responders testified before the UN. Many died from or during the assaults.

Footage of Israeli interrogations show Hamas soldiers claiming they were ordered to “kill, behead and even ‘have sex [with] the women’s bodies.”

Though evidence has only mounted since Hamas’ sexual war crimes were first reported on Oct. 8, well-known women’s rights advocates seemed strangely unwilling to comment until recently.

Eighty US representatives confronted UN Women — the United Nation’s (UN) self-described “entity for gender equality and women’s empowerment” — over its reticence in a letter sent November 29.

“UN Women cannot expect to be viewed as an honest advocate for women’s rights if it continues to ignore Israeli women and women of other nationalities brutalized by Hamas terrorists on October 7,” the letter reads.

Though UN Women first acknowledged Hamas’ atrocities on November 24, the statement “only acknowledges ‘reports’ of alleged crimes against women while neither naming nor condemning Hamas,” the representatives note, continuing:

Your disregard and tone deaf response to Hamas’ attack is woefully unsatisfactory and consistent with the UN’s longstanding bias against Israel.

Just four days after the representatives’ letter, progressive congresswoman Pramila Jayapal dodged questions about self-proclaimed “feminists’” silence on Hamas’ atrocities in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash.

“It’s kind of remarkable that this issue hasn’t gotten enough attention globally — widespread use of rape, brutal rape, sexual violence against Israeli women by Hamas,” Bash began. “I have seen a lot of progressive women, generally speaking, that are quick to defend women’s rights and speak out against using rape as a weapon of war, but downright silent on what we saw on Oct. 7 and what might be happening inside Gaza right now to these hostages. Why is that?”

Jayapal objected to Bash’s claim, arguing she had condemned it, and calling for “balanced” response from Israel.

When Bash noted Israeli soldiers weren’t raping Palestinian women, Jayapal rebutted, “Well, Dana, I don’t want this to be the hierarchy of oppressions.”

Jayapal’s interview horrified many who felt she was justifying or contextualizing the systematic violation of Israeli women.

The backlash prompted many, including women’s advocates in the UN, to finally clarify they condemn Hamas’ actions.

How silent?

Statements like Jayapal’s and utter silence from feminist juggernauts like UN Women can makes it feel like Hamas’ sexual atrocities have been overlooked — but does the data say the same?

The Daily Citizen analyzed 10 women’s and human rights entities’ posts on Twitter — a convenient, popular and far-reaching way to make statements and spread information — to find out.

We chose groups and people receiving criticism for failing to condemn Hamas —

• Four connected to the UN:

• UN Women @UN_Women
• UN Secretary-General António Guterres @antonioguterres
• UN Human Rights @UNHumanRights
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk @volker_turk

• Five that allegedly refused to comment on Hamas’ sexual atrocities to Fox Digital:

• Planned Parenthood @PPFA
• Women’s March @womensmarch
• Democratic Women’s Caucus @DemWomenCaucus
• EMILY’s List @emilyslist
• National Organization of Women @NationalNOW

• And Planned Parenthood’s global non-profit, the International Planned Parenthood Federation @ippf

We catalogued posts each group made about the Israel-Hamas war and violence against women between October 7th and December 8th, five days after Jayapal’s controversial interview.

Each post was sorted into one of four categories:

• Posts mourning, condemning, or soliciting aid for the situation in Gaza only.
• Posts mourning, condemning, or soliciting aid for Israel by name, or asking for the release of hostages.
• Posts generally condemning violence against women (this category was not used for UN Women and Planned Parenthood, which primarily make posts condemning violence against women and would have skewed the data).
• Posts specifically condemning Hamas’ sexual violence against Israeli women.

The results are shocking.

Four entities — UN Human Rights, High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, Women’s March, and EMILY’s List — never acknowledged the sexual brutalization of Israeli women.

Of the total 202 posts examined, 106 (52%) condemned or mourned the situation in Gaza only, and only 12 posts (6%) specifically condemned Hamas’ sexual atrocities.

More than half of the 12 specific condemnations were posted in December — two months after the attack.
Why so quiet?

Women’s groups silence about Hamas’ sexual violence likely stems from rampant pro-Palestinian sentiment, especially given the vast majority of posts in the Daily Citizen’s analysis concerned Gaza only.

The pro-Palestinian movement, which has taken over college campuses and public streets, claims Israel unlawfully oppresses Palestinian people; Hamas terrorists are celebrated as freedom fighters and Israel an unconscionable villain.

Though rarely explicit, pieces of this ideology frequently appeared among the groups and posts we studied:

• UN organizations refer to Gaza as “Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
• A petition on the Women’s March website calls for an end to Israel’s “illegal 16-year blockade.”
• The International Planned Parenthood Federation repeatedly accused Israel of targeting hospitals and civilians, without acknowledging Hamas’ use of hospitals, schools and civilian buildings to discourage Israeli airstrikes.
• High Commissioner Volker Türk called for verification of Hamas’ sexual atrocities, blaming Israel for failing to let a UN investigatory team into the country.

The Daily Citizen has reported extensively on the historical inaccuracy of these ideas and their roots in antisemitism.

What does it mean for women?

Progressive women’s rights organizations’ lackluster response to the brutalization of innocent women suggests some women won’t receive those groups considerable resources, advocation and social protections.

It suggests the groups that rallied around #metoo and insisted in believing all women don’t actually believe all women — even when evidenced by their broken bodies.

It suggests women of unwelcome nationalities, races, religions and political ideologies don’t matter — even when they die experiencing sexual violence from a terrorist group that, as US congressional members noted, has “sustained [yearslong] abused and subjugation of Palestinian in Gaza.”

It’s a step backward for all women who believed they’d be taken care of after facing sexual assault.

What can Christians do?

Christians know what many have historically denied, and what Hamas continues to deny — that women are precious creations of God, always equal in value to men.

As progressive organizations apparently abandon women who don’t meet their specifications, believers can step into the vacuum by loving and protecting the women around them — especially in cases of sexual abuse and exploitation.

The Holy Spirit empowers believers to love what God loves and hate what He hates. Christians should vehemently and unabashedly oppose abuse of women in all its forms.

Most importantly, believers have the ear of God. Please pray for women under Hamas’ thumb, and the families of the women who were brutalized, mutilated and murdered. Most especially, pray for the women still being held hostage, whom credible sources believe are actively being abused.

Other article and resources:

Israel is Under Attack — Here’s Why Christians Should Support Its Defense

Antisemitism—Here’s What It Is and Its Connection to the Israel-Hamas War

Double Standard? Calls for Israeli Ceasefire Could Conceal Antisemitism

Campus Protests Expose Antisemitic Rot in Academia

United Nations Round-Up: Iran Heads Human Rights Council Assembly, Fails to Condemn Hamas