Natalia Mehlman Petrzela points out a certain gap in the discussion of October 7.
Many feminist organizations rushed to express support for the Palestinian cause while eliding the plight of Israeli victims. The organization UN Women issued a four-page report last month exclusively addressing the impact of the war on women and girls in Gaza but made only a brief condemnation of the Oct. 7 attack that made no mention of the sexual violence that had been reported. A group of prominent scholars circulated a letter under the title “Feminists for a Free Palestine,” without explicitly condemning the sexual violence against Israeli women.
So some women deserve it? War crimes are not war crimes if you hate the victims? If that’s the case then there are no war crimes. because there are always plenty of people who hate the victims. That’s how wars work.
College campus groups have furnished other examples, such as the women’s students’ groups at Harvard that signed on to a letter holding Israel entirely responsible for the Oct. 7 attacks or the (now-former) director of the University of Alberta’s Sexual Assault Center’s signing on to a letter doubting the veracity of accounts of Israeli rape survivors.
Good to know the director is now former.
Even the office on my own campus that is devoted to helping students “lead social-justice centered lives” issued thousands of words in solidarity with the Palestinians and did not once acknowledge the sexual violence (or murder or abduction) perpetrated by Hamas.
Hamas is not our friend. Hamas is not benign or benevolent. Hamas is not “progressive.”
Comments
2 responses to “Don’t mention the rapes”
There was a controversy a few years ago when Saudi Arabia was admitted to the UN Commission for the Status of women. What business had they to consult? I suspect that they didn’t want to be lectured on their treatment of women. Here’s the current list of members of the council:
https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/Mmbrshp%20CSW_%2068th%20session%20alph%20and%20by%20regions%20%28as%20of%2014%20Jun%2023%29.pdf
It not only includes Saudi Arabia, our friends in Afghanistan are there.
1. Afghanistan 2025
2. Algeria 2026
3. Argentina 2025
4. Austria 2025
5. Brazil 2024
6. Cabo Verde 2026
7. China 2026
8. Colombia 2024
9. Costa Rica 2026
10. Côte d’Ivoire 2027
11. Cuba 2027
12. Czechia 2027
13. Democratic
Republic of the
Congo 2027
14. Dominican
Republic 2025
15. Egypt 2026
16. India 2025
17. Israel 2025
18. Japan 2026
19. Latvia 2025
20. Lebanon 2026
21. Liechtenstein 2027
22. Mauritania 2026
23. Mexico 2024
24. Mongolia 2024
25. Morocco 2025
26. Mozambique 2027
27. Netherlands 2027
28. Nigeria 2025
29. Pakistan 2026
30. Panama 2026
31. Philippines 2024
32. Portugal 2027
33. Republic of Korea 2027
34. Russian Federation 2024
35. Saudi Arabia 2027
36. Senegal 2024
37. Somalia 2024
38. Spain 2027
39. Switzerland 2024
40. Trinidad and
Tobago 2026
41. Tunisia 2026
42. Turkey 2025
43. Ukraine 2027
44. Zambia 2025
With supporters such as those, do women need enemies? This may not have bearing on why they fail to mention the horrors of rape and the brutality that was targeted specifically at women, but it makes things difficult to explain otherwise.
I am puzzled about this. Are you painting everyone with the same brush? Does Liechtenstein, for example, have a bad record in the treatment of women? I’ve never heard that it does.
As it happens there was a programme on television (Arte) this morning about the current status of women in Afghanistan. Extremely depressing. One thing I learned from it is that the brief period in which women were treated as human beings did not originate with the Soviet invasion, as I had thought, but was well under the way before that.