UN holds first session on Hamas sexual violence, 2 months after 7/10 massacre
Following months of criticism for silence and inaction, a session was held by Israel’s Permanent Mission to the UN on gender-based crimes committed by Hamas at an event which included hundreds of attendees, survivor testimony and speeches from US political leaders
The United Nations held its first special session on sexual and gender-based violence in the Hamas’ October 7th terror attack on Israel. The event on Monday called “Hear Our Voices,” was organized by Israel’s Permanent Mission to the UN and included hundreds of diplomats in attendance. Speakers included survivors of the massacre, first responders, Israeli police and legal experts who testified and presented evidence. There were also many international speakers including Sheryl Sandberg, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand who spoke in person and Hillary Clinton who sent a video message.
A few days earlier UN Women released its first statement specifically condemning Hamas’ atrocities against Israeli women, nearly two months after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel which included mass rape and sexual violence. The statement says: “We unequivocally condemn the brutal attacks by Hamas on Israel on 7 October. We are alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks. This is why we have called for all accounts of gender-based violence to be duly investigated and prosecuted, with the rights of the victim at the core.”
This is the only clear condemnation by UN Women regarding sexual violence committed by Hamas since the October 7 massacre that resulted in the murder of 1,200 people and the abduction of 240. Israeli authorities have opened an investigation into sexual violence during the most deadly attack on Israel in its history, including rape, due to enormous evidence including eye witness accounts, first responders’ reports, physical evidence, and footage captured by Hamas. More evidence is being gathered every day, including recent testimony from Yoni Saadon who survived the Supernova festival by hiding under dead bodies. Saadon recently spoke about witnessing the gang rape and murder of several women by Hamas terrorists, including one particularly horrifying incident in which a woman was decapitated after she refused to be stripped naked.
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Their statement came after two months of intense criticism for failing to specifically condemn Hamas’ crimes against Israel women. “I regret that it took them much too long to acknowledge it, to explicitly say that sexual violence was committed by Hamas on October 7th. The time that it took them served as ammunition in Hamas’ denial campaign. I’m glad that they finally got to this point, and I see it as a step in the right direction,” says Dr. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, an international law expert with a focus on women’s rights and a professor at Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law where she founded and leads the Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women.
Halperin-Kaddari spoke at a session held by Israel’s delegation to the UN in Geneva last week about Hamas’ atrocities and specifically gender-based crimes. “I conducted numerous meetings with high level officials including with the high commissioner who acknowledged the need to have an investigation into October 7 independent of the Commision of Inquiry.”
There are many international actors who share Israel’s concerns about the UN Commission of Inquiry. While attending a session held today by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for women diplomats, Canadian ambassador Lisa Stadelbauer raised the issue of the investigation and agreed that there should be a different mechanism to investigate Hamas’ crimes. Halperin-Kaddari also spoke during the session, which was attended by 80 different diplomats and included evidence and testimony from first responders, police officers and Dr. Shelly Aviv-Yeini from the legal team for the Hostage and Missing Families Forum.
The UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel has been collecting “evidence of war crimes committed by all sides since 7 October 2023, when Hamas launched a complex attack on Israel and Israeli forces responded with airstrikes in Gaza.” UN Women said that they “welcome that the Commission has opened its call for submissions on gender-based crimes since 7 October.”
The Commission, which is part of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), will present their findings to the UNHRC in June and to the General Assembly in October 2024. The Commission has stated that it is “dedicating particular attention to allegations of gender-based crimes, with an emphasis on murder and hostage-taking, rape and other forms of sexual violence.”
However, there is tremendous skepticism in Israel about the intentions of such a commission, with many viewing it as another tool to slam Israel with, and little intention of holding any Palestinian groups, even Hamas, accountable. Israel has refused to cooperate with the investigation, saying that the body possesses “biased prejudices against Israel,” according to Israel’s diplomatic envoys at the UN. "Since the establishment of the COI (Commission of Inquiry) in 2021, Israel has made it clear: it will not cooperate with this discriminatory body and its Commissioners," Israel's permanent mission to the U.N. in Geneva said on Thursday.
