Will sexual violence become a recurring form of Palestinian terror?
In the wake of Israeli officials’ graphic testimony at the United Nations of widespread rape and mutilation of women’s bodies by Hamas terrorists during the attacks of October 7, and the continuing revelations of further atrocities, one women’s rights activist fears that sexual violence will become a recurring theme of Palestinian terror.
Yael Sherer, founder and director of the Survivors of Sexual Violence Advocacy Group, in Tel Aviv on Dec. 7. 2023. Photo by Yossi Zeliger/TPS
“I think once this element of sexual violence enters the arena of the conflict we will have a really hard time rolling it back,” Yael Sherer told the Tazpit Press Service. “I am very, very afraid of the sort of violence we will see in the future. Before this such things were taboo here.”
Sherer is the founder and director of the Survivors of Sexual Violence Advocacy Group, which seeks change in Israeli laws regarding sexual violence.
In the aftermath of Oct. 7, Sherer was frequently contacted by badly shaken first responders and medical examiners who dealt with the mutilated remains of victims.
These first responders, had gotten to know Yael through her work, needed someone “to hold their hands through the phone,” she said.
The testimonies of the medical workers was reinforced by video footage of naked and bloodied women paraded through Gaza. GoPro cameras found on the bodies of terrorists proved so harrowing that that the Israeli government will only show them in private screenings.
Yael Reichert, Superintendent of the Israeli Police’s Lahav 433 unit, shared explicit testimony at the United Nations on Monday of her investigation’s findings. Lahav 433 is often referred to as “Israel’s FBI” because of the national level crimes it investigates.
“Everything was an apocalypse of corpses. Girls without any clothes on, without tops, without underwear. There were girls with a broken pelvis due to repetitive rapes. Their legs were spread wide apart, in a split,” Reichert said.
Stressing the widespread nature of the sexual violence, she said, “They carried out a massacre against innocent civilians without discrimination based on religion, race or gender. Massive destruction of every living soul that stood in their way.”
Fears for Remaining Captives
When asked what changed on October 7, Sherer told TPS, “This was not widespread in the region – beheadings, mutilations of the bodies. This is not even closely related to the religion of either Jews or Muslims.”
She added, “I think the terrorists wanted to humiliate, wanted to disgrace people, their sanctity. It may have been because they know about how much it would hurt the victims’ families – Jews in particular – because of the Jewish concern for the treatment of the dead. I don’t know any other culture or religion that would be able to tolerate such cruelty. Any sane human being that would do that to someone they killed, you need to be a psychopath.”
The true scope of the rapes may never be known, because most of the victims and witnesses were massacred, Sherer noted.
Meanwhile, fears continue for the well-being of the women still being held captive by Hamas in Gaza. Of the 137 hostages, 20 are female.
The Associated Press reported that one doctor who treated several freed captives said that at least 10 men and women had been sexually assaulted or abused, but did not elaborate.
And in a briefing for journalists on Monday, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller suggested that sexual violence may have been one reason that a week-long temporary ceasefire and prisoner exchange collapsed.
“The fact that they continue to hold women hostages, the fact that they continue to hold children hostages, just the fact that it seems one of the reasons they don’t want to turn women over they’ve been holding hostage, and the reason this pause fell apart, is they don’t want those women to be able to talk about what happened to them during their time in custody,” Miller said.
“There is very little that I would put beyond Hamas when it comes to its treatment of civilians and particularly its treatment of women,” Miller added.
Sherer, herself a victim of sexual assault, voiced concern that rape will increase because many Palestinians will see it as a legitimate form of attack.
“This sort of attack was so different than anything that happened in this region before. It must have been imported by other groups,” Sherer said, referring to Islamic State.
“We never expected this. We won’t accept it.”
