On Friday — after 57 days — “UN Women” finally got around to condemning Hamas’s use of rape as a weapon of terror against Israeli women.
The women’s rights organization made a similar statement in late November condemning the Hamas attacks, but quickly deleted the post.
International women’s organizations have been roundly criticized by Jewish, Israeli, and other groups since October 7 for their relative silence on the brutality faced by Israeli women during Hamas’s rampage in southern Israel.
On Saturday, after the UN Women statement condemning Hamas, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen took to X to slam the UN women’s organization.
“The conduct of UN Women, as well as the UN Secretary-General and other UN agencies, since the October 7 massacre, is disgraceful.,” Cohen wrote. “UN Women’s message is weak and late when it comes after almost two months of silence and ignoring the war crimes, crimes against humanity, and sexual crimes committed by the terrorist organization, Hamas.”
The statement came only after a bipartisan group of lawmakers urged the UN to condemn Hamas’s October 7 attack.
The UN’s long silence has, unfortunately, been mirrored by many of the groups who had been the most vocal about sexual assault and abuse in other contexts.
Over at Slate, a group of progressive writers — including Dahlia Lithwick, Mimi Rocah, Jennifer Taub, Tamar Zepper, Joyce Vance, and Julie Zebrak called out their fellow feminists:
Of all of the horrors coming out of the Israel-Hamas conflict, among the most horrible are the barbaric murders, rapes, sexual assaults, and kidnappings of women and young girls in Israel during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. And yet, deepening this distressing event, there has been a disheartening silence about, or worse, denial of these evils; reticence from the voices here at home in the U.S. who have, in the recent past, embraced other women who needed their support. Israeli and Jewish women find themselves isolated.
For the past three decades, women have stood up for other women. When our sisters’ bodies and dignity were targeted and violated, women and allies of all ages and backgrounds organized, supported, and spoke out.
Except somehow, not this time.
Gaby Hinsliff made a similar point in the Guardian: “Whatever your view of the Israel-Hamas war, rape is rape. To trivialise it is to diminish ourselves.”
Only in this conflict have some normally proud progressives seemingly gone out of their way to show they don’t always #BelieveWomen, after all.
Over the weekend, CNN’s Dana Bash had a tense confrontation with Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal on the question of Hamas’s sexual violence.
The CNN anchor called it “remarkable” that the subject hasn’t been getting more attention, adding “I’ve seen a lot of Progressive women. Generally speaking, they’re quick to defend women’s rights and to speak out against using rape as a weapon of war, but downright silent on what we saw on October 7th and what might be happening inside Gaza right now to these hostages.”
“Why is that?” Bash asked Jayapal.
“I don’t know that that’s true,” Jayapal said. “I think we always talk about the impact of war on women in particular.”
After some verbal dodging, Bash pressed Jayapal for a more direct answer:
“With respect,” Bash interjected. “I was just asking about the women, and you turned it back to Israel. I’m asking you about Hamas…”
“I already answered your question, Dana,” Jayapal countered. “I said it’s horrific, and I think that rape is horrific. Sexual assault is horrific. I think that it happens in war situations. Terrorist organizations like Hamas obviously are using these as tools. However, I think we have to be balanced about bringing in the outrages against Palestinians. Fifteen thousand Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes, three-quarters of whom are women and children…”
“And it’s horrible,” said Bash, “but you don’t see Israeli soldiers raping Palestinian women.
Bash’s fellow CNN anchor Bianna Golodryga praised Bash’s interview: “Good on @DanaBashCNN to continually press @RepJayapal on condemning Hamas’ horrific sexual violence against Israeli women. Jayapal repeatedly said she spoke out specifically against the sexual violence but has apparently not done so, at least on X.”
Other progressives also dunked on Jayapal’s attempts to “balance” her reaction.
I saw the Jayapal interview and it was cringe-worthy, frankly. It’s no fun being put on the spot but this one wasn’t hard. All she had to do was say “Of course I condemn the rapes of those women.I condemn all sexual violence and there is no excuse for it.” Period. Full Stop.
I have long wondered when intersectionality was going to be put to a real test on the left. Identity politics are easy when there is no tension within the coalition and there’s a monolithic enemy. But humans are complicated creatures and the world is full of contradictions. It was only a matter of time before this kind of conflict rose to the surface in the progressive coalition.
That’s why it’s best to ground your political philosophy in a set of morals and principles. It doesn’t make horrifically difficult situations like the Gaza crisis more navigable but it does simplify questions like these. Unequivocally condemning war crimes and terrorism, regardless of the victims or the perpetrators, should be one of the easiest.