Sexual violence as a weapon of war during October 7 massacre

[Twiglets1]

A new report providing the first legal framework for prosecuting Hamas terrorists for the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war during the October 7, 2023, massacre is being presented by the Dinah Project to First Lady Michal Herzog at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.

The report confirms that Hamas systematically used rape and sexual violence as tools of war during the October 7 massacres and is the first to present a legal roadmap for identifying and pursuing justice for the use of sexual violence as a weapon of warfare, which constitutes a crime against humanity.

The gathering of primarily women notably includes former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky, who has publicly spoken about being sexually assaulted by her captors in Gaza.

“This report tells the truth as it is — shocking, painful, but necessary. On behalf of all those who were harmed, we are committed to continuing the fight until their cries are heard everywhere and justice is done,” says First Lady Michal Herzog.

“We carry here a universal message: that sexual violence cannot be accepted as a tool of war,” she says, drawing attention to the plight of the remaining 50 hostages, including Inbar Hayman, the single female captive who is believed to be dead.

www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/report-provides-legal-framework-to-prosecute-sexual-violence-during-oct-7-hamas-massacre/

No one denies that innocent Palestinians - including children - have tragically died in this conflict, and yes, sometimes in horrifying ways. Conflict isn't safe. War and terrorism are brutal, and people do die. The conflict has been ongoing for decades.

There are good Israelis and horrible Israelis and even evil Israelis. The same applies to British, Dutch, Chinese, Mexican..everyone. But the IDF and the state of Israel do not have a policy of trying to murder Palestinian civilians or children.

Israel is a democratic country with an independent judiciary, free press, and military investigations. When civilians are killed unjustly, there are protests, media scrutiny, and in some cases, soldiers have been jailed. As their should be.

By comparison, Hamas does target civilians including children -as policy, proudly and publicly. They have no free press, no judiciary accountability, and when they kill civilians they celebrate it. They have big parties in the street and everyone cheers over the corpse. No one is tried and jailed, they get paid a salary!

Claiming the IDF has spent “decades butchering people walking down the street or playing in their garden” deliberately, as a matter of policy, is just a nonsense.

Go to the OCHA and test your own theory. There's a list of every casualty and their age, status and cause of death listed since 2008.

What you'll find it that Hamas and the civilian Gazans who invaded Israel on 7 October 2023 killed more people in six hours, than Israelis forces had killed in the previous NINE YEARS.

Thing about that...

This army of 600k with every weapon in the world and ongoing conflict where in excess of 80 terror attacks were inflicted on them as well as more than 18,000 rockets fired at their civilian population and they killed less civilians in all that time as Hamas and Gazans did with a few guns, a couple of knives and their bare hands on 7 October 2023.

Israel doesn’t target civilians on purpose.

The IDF has checks and balances and accountability when they do something wrong and people are punished and even jailed.

Soldiers have been prosecuted for manslaughter, abuse, and unlawful killing. For example, Elor Azaria was convicted of manslaughter for shooting a wounded attacker, and in 2025, an IDF officer was dismissed after an airstrike killed aid workers in Gaza. Investigations happen - even if people think they don’t go far enough. That’s what sets a democracy apart from a terror group.

And yet you aren’t capable of saying sexual violence to any man/woman/child in a conflict zone regardless of background is wrong?

Did they not accept what was offered?

What a twisted and backwards paragraph.

Let’s be clear: it’s antisemitic to blame Jews for the actions of Israel - yes. But suggesting that Jews must publicly disown or condemn Israel in order to earn protection from antisemitism is really quite a vile suggestion!

That’s not how bigotry works. If someone’s hatred of Jews increases because people support Israel’s right to defend itself against a terror group like Hamas, then the problem isn’t Israel - it’s the antisemite.

And for clarity: People defend Israel not because they think it’s perfect, but because it’s fighting an enemy that murders civilians, uses human shields, rapes women, burns babies alive, and celebrates it. People believe -rightly - that Israel, like any other nation, has a right to stop that, and to get its hostages back.

Jews don’t need to side with genocidal terrorists to be spared hatred. And anyone suggesting they should is exposing exactly the kind of thinking that fuels antisemitism - not fights it.

Indeed it has. What's unusual is that this is the first time I have seen complete global denial that it happened. Even from feminist voices.

They have been land grabbing ever since.

Where do you see the global denial?

This is absolute crap, but clearly we’ll never agree.

All of your posts ignore (purposefully? Subconsciously? )all of the atrocities that the IDF and the state of Israel and the radical settlers have and continue to inflict on the Palestinians.

Still not able to read my last paragraph - from
my post of 20:49:

I would expect any sexual violence carried out by the IDF was treated as a crime in the same way any sexual violence is and from remembering past new stories, it is.

Everyone's state got carved up!

Since 1920, the entire region has been redrawn, broken up, and reshaped - often by colonial powers, dictatorships, or wars. Just a few examples:

• Syria and Lebanon were carved out of the Ottoman Empire by France.
• Iraq was stitched together by the British from three Ottoman provinces. After years of war, the Sunni and Shia divide remains explosive, and millions were displaced by the ISIS conflict.
• Jordan was created by the British in the 1920s as “Transjordan” and handed to a Hashemite monarch.
• Kuwait was split from Iraq by the British, and Iraq invaded in 1990 partly over this dispute.
• Turkey and Greece exchanged over 1.5 million people forcibly in 1923.
• Kurds, despite being a major ethnic group, were never given a state—they were divided between Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran. They’ve faced persecution and displacement in all of them.
• Armenians were massacred and displaced during the Armenian Genocide.
• The creation of modern Saudi Arabia involved war, tribal expulsions, and the forced assimilation of different regions.

Millions across the region have been displaced, borders redrawn, and entire peoples scattered. It's tragic - but it’s not unique to Israel or the Palestinians.

The difference is, in most of these cases, people moved on, rebuilt, or were absorbed into neighbouring countries. But when it comes to Israel and Palestine, the region - and the world - has kept this conflict frozen in time, generation after generation, while rejecting every compromise that might have led to peace.

It’s not that it’s the only injustice - it’s just the one that never ends.

And just to correct you on a couple of quite key errors in your short post.

By the early 1950s, over 50% of Jews in Israel were from the Middle East, North Africa, or Asia - not Europe. These were Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews, many of whom were forcibly expelled or fled antisemitic violence from countries like Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Syria, and Iran.

They were not "forced out of most of it", the first offer to them gave them 80% of the land the remaining 20% being areas where no Arabs lived (they said no) and when the second offer came, it was 50/50.

By 1947, only about 6–8% of the land in Mandatory Palestine was privately owned by Arabs (according to British land records). Jews owned around 7% of the land. The rest - over 80% - was public or uncultivated land, owned by the British Mandate authorities (previously Ottoman state land) so really one empire changed to another.

And saying they were "forced out" is very murky.

In many areas, Arab civilians were explicitly told by Jewish and later Israeli leaders to stay. David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, made radio announcements urging Arab residents to remain in place and promised equal rights to those who did. I have seen copies of speeches and articles saying the same thing. His message was clear: those who stayed would be full citizens of the new state and that promise was kept.

In cities like Haifa, Jewish leaders actively begged Arabs to stay and even worked to reassure them during the chaos. However, it was Arab leaders themselves - not the Jews - who told the population to evacuate, expecting to return quickly after what they believed would be a decisive Arab military victory.

There are clear examples of Arab calls to evacuate. In April 1948, the Arab Higher Committee and several Arab military commanders ordered evacuations from various cities. These orders were given to avoid civilian casualties and to clear the way for attacking Arab armies.

Iraqi and Syrian officers operating in Palestine at the time also encouraged the local Arab population to leave, promising that they would return once Israel was defeated.

This isn’t to say that no Arabs were expelled -in some active combat zones, such as Lydda and Ramle, there were forced removals carried out by Israeli forces. But these were military decisions during wartime, not part of a systematic plan to ethnically cleanse the land.

In most areas, Arabs left either voluntarily or under pressure from their own leadership, anticipating a quick return after the expected Arab victory.

All of this is documented, but rather than looking at the full picture people focus on the parts that were forcibly kicked out. I suppose people just ignore all the information which doesn't fit their chosen narrative.

Was it fair on everyone? Of course not. Nor was it fair the 11 times the Jews of Israel were colonised, nor was it fair on every Jewish person who had to leave Judea or Samaria or anywhere else in the region. It was crap, but the bottomline is that it was a pretty fair request for Jews to have autonomy in a tiny, tiny slither of what was their homeland before it was taken.

I really can't grasp why people begrudge them that. The entire width of Israel is about 9 to 100 miles wide depending on where you go. Do you seriously believe people should be sending their kids to war over living at most about 100 miles away from where their grandparents might have lived?

I live 4000 miles from where my Grandparents lived! This is not a reasonable way to live life!

Oh dear.

Well, here's Article 8 of the Jerusalem Declaration which defines antisemitism:

“Requiring people, because they are Jewish, publicly to condemn Israel or Zionism (for example, at a political meeting).”

I’m sure it is indeed “absolute crap” and the people yelling at Jews to denounce Israel or be held responsible for its actions will be devastated to learn they’re literally embodying the antisemitism this declaration defines.

Much like genocide, Israel is also very bad at land grabbing.

Israel gained territory during wars it didn’t start - especially in 1948 and 1967 - but it has also given back over 90% of the land it captured.

After the 1967 war, Israel took control of around 67,000 square kilometres, including the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. But in 1979, Israel returned the entire Sinai - 60,000 km² - to Egypt in exchange for peace, the largest land-for-peace deal in modern history.

It withdrew unilaterally from Gaza in 2005, dismantling all settlements, and through the Oslo Accords, handed civil control of major West Bank cities to the Palestinian Authority. So while Israel has gained land in war, it has also voluntarily given most of it back.

I deduced from this that Israel wants peace, and not land.

I see it in the weeks of silence from organisations like UN Women, which said nothing for nearly two months after October 7. I see it in the feminist academics, influencers, and NGOs who are usually outspoken about sexual violence - but suddenly had nothing to say when the victims were Israeli women, and the perpetrators were Hamas. I see it in the way mainstream media buried the reports, cast doubt on survivors’ testimonies, or avoided covering it altogether. I see it in the people who demanded "verification" while footage, forensic evidence, and eyewitnesses were already available. And I see it in those who still, to this day, refuse to acknowledge it happened, or even worse - justify it. There has been a complete global shut out of these women.

Why are you replying to a post about antisemitism demanding that I condemn Jews? Do you think each time someone talks about sexual violence against Israeli women or points out craven antisemitism they are required to precursor it with a statement condemning radical settlers? What is the matter with you?

Im not talking about that post in particular although you weren't discussing the topic at hand there. I was talking about your posts in general over several threads. You claim you are a neutral observer when its clear you have a bias just like many others including myself. You are biased on one side.

👏 👏

Am I yelling at you? No. I’m a Jew, who is very visibly a Jew. So are you, presumably? We aren’t going to agree so let’s leave it.

No I don't claim to be a neutral observer. I have very openly and plainly stated my views in minutiae detail which I think are quite impassioned actually and far from neutral.

For the sake of clarity, I am strongly anti Hamas. I am about as anti Hamas as you can get. Consider that bias if you wish.

The British killed far more Germans than vice versa in WW2. Based on the numbers alone were the British wrong?

bottom line is yeah, the middle east is messy, loads of groups got displaced and borders were drawn by colonial powers. but the difference is most of those people eventually got to rebuild got citizenship, a state, rights etc. palestinians didn’t.

they were made refugees in 1948 and still are now. most still don’t have a country, or proper rights. some live under occupation, some under blockade, some in camps for generations. thats not ancient history, it’s still happening.

also it’s just not true to say they all just "left" because arab leaders told them to. some did leave, sure, but many were kicked out or fled violence. even israeli historians admit this happened in alot of places. so its not just some biased take.

and yes, jews from arab countries also suffered and had to flee too totally valid point. but they were taken in by israel and built new lives. palestinians didn’t get that. they’ve been left stuck with no good options.

this isn’t about denying anyone a homeland or safety. it’s just recognising that one group got a state, and the other didn’t and they’re still paying the price. that’s why it’s not over. not cause they “won’t move on” but because they’ve never been given the chance to.

I am an Egyptian Arab actually. And yes - you can agree to disagree with myself and 370 of the worlds leading experts and specialists in Holocaust, Jewish, and Middle East studies on what antisemitism is 🙄

On numbers alone it’s hard to say, but when we get into things like Dresden…?

Ok so you’re not a Jew and I am. But you know better than me what is antisemitism. Great.

Hard agree on almost all of this.

But the problem is that all these things you list are, quite deliberately, maintained as they are in order to keep Israel illegitimate.

It's a very deliberate strategy.

Refugees should have been given citizenship, I was naturalised very quickly.

Palestinian leaderships should have accepted a state one of the several times one as been offered.

Palestinians should have a govt that wants peace and protects their rights rather than oppresses them and steals from them.

Palestinians must stop attacking Israel if they don't want a blockade.

People must stop calling what is certainly towns and cities "refugee camps"

I 100% agree Palestinians have paid the price and I 100% agree they deserve better, but absolutely none of this is Israels choice.