Israeli historian calls out International Women’s Day for forgetting female hostages in Gaza 

In the wake of the recent celebration of International Women’s Day a prominent Israeli historian specialising in gender issues has decried how the global event appeared to have no time for the 19 women who remain captives of the insurgent-terrorist group Hamas.

Noting that most of the women have likely endured sexual violence, Tamar Herzig was speaking at a 12 March event organised by the Israeli embassy to the Holy See to commemorate International Women’s Day, observed annually on 8 March, with the all-female guest-list including several ambassadors to the Holy See, reports Crux.

“I don’t recall any Western country, definitely not during the 21st century, that had so many hostages held in such…very difficult conditions for so long,” said Herzig, a historian of Early Modern Europe who specialises in the oppression of marginalised groups, female slavery, gender violence and religious conversion, while also lamenting that there has been “no international outcry”.

Showing images and video footage of the 7 Oct. Hamas attack, which left 1,400 Israelis dead with around 250 others taken as hostages, Herzig said that by paying close attention, it is obvious that “taking women was part of the plan”, pointing to one video specifically in which a Hamas militant is heard saying: “this one is a girl, take her”.

Of the 19 women who remain in captivity, some “are probably already dead,” she said. Highlighting how rape is used as a weapon of war, Herzig said that the death toll for the ongoing war in Gaza should take account of those women in Israel who were most likely raped prior to being killed during the surprise attack by Hamas on 7 Oct.

“The deafening silence of global feminist organisations that were expected to spearhead the acknowledgment of gender-based violence in its most severe manifestations was followed by a denial campaign,” Herzig wrote in an article about the use of sexual violence on 7 Oct. and the “puzzling” response by the international community. “There is, of course, nothing new in discrediting claims of sexual abuse per se. What is astonishing is the willingness of feminist activists and organisations to abandon what came to be regarded as the sacrosanct motto of the #MeToo era: ‘I believe you’.”  

Herzig read aloud an open letter from the mother of 19-year-old Naama Levy, who was abducted by Hamas and remains in captivity. Video footage of the attack shows Hamas militants dragging a bloodied Levy by her hair into a truck, only wearing her pyjamas and with no shoes or socks on.

In her letter, Levy’s mother, Ayelet Levy Shachar, describes “those atrocious moments” seen in the video and the aftermath:

For over 150 days, Shachar says, her daughter has been absent and “as her mother I’m powerless…I am a mother, and my heart is broken. My days and nights are tormented by the absence of Naama. Her nightmares are my own.”

She said she wanted to be Naama’s voice, since Naama was “silenced”, and described her daughter as a happy and optimistic person who was “full of compassion” and believed in the goodness of other people.

“Where is the international community in the face of all this? Where is the world? How can a [day] dedicated to women be celebrated when women are held hostage by a group of terrorists and are living unspeakable sufferings?” Shachar says in the letter.

Calling the 7 Oct. attacks the most traumatising violence the Jewish people, especially women, have experienced since the Holocaust, Herzig referenced a recent report from Pramila Patten, the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

After completing a visit to Israel and the West Bank earlier this year, Patten released a report saying “clear and convincing information” had been found indicating that some women and children held by Hamas had been subject to rape and sexualised torture.

The report also found “reasonable grounds” to believe that sexual assaults, including rape, gang rape, and the mutilation of female bodies had taken place in at least three places during the attacks on a music festival and several kibbutz communities, among other places.

First-hand accounts from released hostages, the report states, recounted rape, sexual torture and the degrading and inhumane treatment of women and children in captivity, adding that there are reasonable grounds to believe that this violence is ongoing.

There are also indications, Herzig says, that some of the women hostages might be pregnant as a result of rape, though she adds there is little information available, given the delicacy of the issue and the need to safeguard privacy.

Herzig notes that she herself has been to four funerals since the attack, including a former student who was burned alive inside her home along with her husband during the attack.

She says that while she would like to see the current war end, it was necessary for Israel to fight, because for over three months, Hamas continued to fire missiles into various parts of Israel.

A solution to the ongoing war must be found, she adds, saying she is in favour a two-State solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, but for this to happen, “we must find a partner in Palestine” that is not Hamas.

Herzig made an appeal for the world to do “everything possible” to ensure the release of the rest of the hostages, especially the women, who she highlights are likely to be subjected to continuing sexual violence.

“It’s very late to release them after five months, but better late than never,” she says.

Speaking to Crux, she says the Vatican “could have mentioned our hostages more”, adding: “I think the Pope could have been more active, the Vatican could have been more active in this respect,” Herzig said. “I was definitely hoping they would do more about [the] women.”

Pope Francis has previously spoken out about violence against women, advocating for an end to violence against women.

Since the 7 Oct. attack and Israel’s response, the Pope has frequently prayed for peace in Gaza and has made repeated appeals for the liberation of Israeli hostages.

The Pope and his top aides have also called Israel’s response to the attack by Hamas disproportionate, resulting in criticism from the Jewish community and increased tensions between the Vatican and the Israeli embassy to the Holy See.

(Photo: Screenshot from www.israel21c.org.)

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