Women of the world are either celebrating or seeking relief from the more mundane cares like childbearing or their appropriate role at home during Women’s Month, but not the daughters of Israel, who are predominantly either on the battlefield and, in the worst cases, have uncertain futures as terrorist captives.
Terrorist group Hamas still holds about 19 Israeli women as hostages, many of them in their teens and whose fate, alive or dead, is unknown.
It took the United Nations almost five months to come out with a report that finally gave recognition to Israeli women and acknowledged that they were sexually abused, if not murdered, mutilated, and treated as objects of conflict.
Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss, during a visit to DAILY TRIBUNE, said the UN just recently came out with a report that said the Hamas abuses “really happened.”
Fluss found it disturbing that when Israel claimed something, the UN’s next move was to have it investigated.
“We need to have experts to go and analyze the Israeli statements. Everything that Israel stands for has a question mark, but when it comes from Hamas, everybody takes it as a fact,” he said.
“We do know that 19 women are still in captivity and that they were raped in captivity, so we know that these women are still being abused, harassed, and tortured. Nobody has seen them since 7 October,” according to Fluss.
“Women are being ignored. And this is women’s month. And it’s about time to hear not only from the Special Rapporteur who came out with a report but it’s about time to hear from the UN community, from international leaders, from international women’s organizations, from national women’s organizations, at least one word of sympathy and support for the Israeli women,” he pleaded.
Disturbing silence
“The silence is so disturbing, and Israeli women have lost their trust in the international community, which is ignoring them. They’re being discriminated against, and this is, for me, an important message,” he said.
Fluss said the abuses committed against Israeli women were contained in an official report by the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel.
The report stated:
• Sexual crimes were committed systematically and intentionally;
• Four main arenas of sexual abuse were identified; and
• The sexual assaults and acts of rape were committed by multiple participants and included sadistic practices characterized by brutal, demonstrative features.
“The report, submitted to decision-makers at the UN, leaves no room for denial or disregard. The terrorist organization Hamas chose to harm Israel strategically in two clear ways — kidnapping citizens and committing sadistic sexual crimes. Silence is no longer an option. We expect international organizations to take a clear stance; we cannot stand on the sidelines. Silence will be remembered as a historical stain on those who chose to remain silent and deny the sexual crimes committed by Hamas,” said Orit Sulitzeanu, CEO of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel.
The report is the first official research since 7 October that showed the attack was not a “malfunction or isolated incident but a clear operational strategy involving systematic, targeted sexual abuse.”
The report focused on sexual and gender-based violence during the massacre and the war that ensued, “serving as a primary testimonial foundation indicating widespread sexual crimes.”
It analyzed numerous confidential and public pieces of information, including testimonies, interviews with official and non-official first responders, information permitted for publication in various media outlets, and direct information received by the ARCCI.
After gathering the information, a cataloging and analysis process was undertaken to map the areas and patterns of sexual crimes. The report does not provide quantitative information due to the nature of the events, most of which resulted in the victims’ deaths, making their full extent unknown and possibly unknowable.
Indicting results
Other findings in the report indicated the Hamas attack included brutal acts of violent rape, often involving threats with weapons, specifically directed towards injured women.
Many rape incidents happened collectively and purposely among the perpetrating terrorists.
“In some cases, rape was conducted in front of an audience, such as partners, family or friends, to increase the pain and humiliation for all present,” the report said.
Some Hamas members pursued victims who escaped the massacre, dragging them by their hair with screams, it added.
The majority of victims were subsequently killed during or after the sexual assault, it indicated.
According to the report, several testimonies, interviews, and additional sources indicated the use of sadistic practices by Hamas terrorists aimed at intensifying the humiliation and fear of sexual abuse.
The investigations also found many victims’ bodies were mutilated and bound, with sexual organs brutally attacked, and in some cases, weapons were inserted into them.
Some bodies were discovered deliberately booby-trapped, it added.
The report stated that sexual and gender-based violence occurred systematically in four locations:
1) Nova Festival (Re’im music festival) — Testimonies from survivors significantly indicate severe sexual assaults in the festival arena. There were eyewitness and earwitness testimonies of group rape. These testimonies align with descriptions from first responders and corpse-handling personnel.
2) Kibbutzim — Testimonies from first responders and corpse-handling personnel revealed signs of sexual assault at the scenes of the massacre. Many cases involved heinous attacks on women and girls, including a case of hiding a knife in genitals. The ARCCI received additional information, but it could not be disclosed due to privacy concerns.
3) IDF bases — Bodies of female soldiers arriving at the Shura camp exhibited clear signs of sexual violence and
4) Captivity — Information regarding sexual assaults in captivity had been published following the testimonies of those who returned from captivity. These testimonies included various cases, including those of captives who are still alive.
According to Dr. Carmit Klar-Chalamish and Noga Berger, the report’s authors, “The brutal practices used on 7 October such as genital mutilation of girls, women and men, shooting, and weapon insertion, were designed to destroy and inflict sadistic terror.”