Jewish women protest against silence of feminists on sexual savagery of Hamas

Hundreds of Jewish women have protested against the selective silence of women’s rights organisations about the rape, murder and kidnapping of Israeli women and children by Hamas.

Hundreds of Australian Jewish women have condemned the selective silence of women’s rights organisations about the rape, murder and kidnapping of Israeli women and children by Hamas on October 7.

Around 600 women dressed in white with some carrying signs saying “#MeToo unless you’re a Jew” protested at a rally in Elsternwick in Melbourne’s southeast calling for women’s right’s organisations, feminist commentators and all politicians to ‘unequivocally’ condemn the sexual violence committed by Hamas on October 7.

The protest came only days after woman’s rights group UN Women broke almost two months of silence by belatedly recognising the sexual violence of Hamas during its October 7 rampage in Israeli that left 1200 dead.

The rally also follows months of relative silence from woman’s rights groups about the rape and murder of Jewish women committed by Hamas despite those same groups protesting the deaths of Palestinian women in Gaza during the current Israel-Hamas war.

“In the days since October 7 we have heard little to nothing from women’s organisations denouncing the attacks,’ Jackie Frank, the founding editor of Marie Claire Australia told the crowd. ‘Barely a single woman or feminist organisation raised any voice of either criticising the horrible deeds of Hamas or solidarity to their fellow sisters.’

Hundreds of women rally in Elsternwick tonight to protest the silence by many woman’s groups about sexual assaults on Jewish women by Hamas on October 7 pic.twitter.com/ZKW8ampzHs

— cameron stewart (@camstewarttheoz) December 4, 2023

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian academic who was wrongfully held prisoner by Iran for more than two years, said feminists should not be selective about the victims of rape and sexual violence.

“It is possible to hold two truths at the same time,’ she told the rally. “We can mourn the deaths of innocent women and children in Gaza while standing against the horrific, unspeakable acts of sexual violence and torture perpetrated against Israeli women and girls on October 7. As feminists we should oppose rape and sexual violence everywhere, at all times. Period. We cannot be selective about the victims of such atrocities.’

The rally, organised by a grassroots movement of Jewish women in Melbourne, saw hundreds of women place tape over their mouths to symbolise the silence of women’s groups about the sexual violence of Hamas.

Singer Deborah Conway, who performed at the rally, said it has been a confronting couple of months and the rally was a way to stand in solidarity with the female sexual victims of Hamas, ‘to shine a light, and to mourn.’

“The rapes, dismemberments, burnings, the slaughter of babies, the hostage taking, so much savagery all enacted with ferocious glee on October 7, have been compounded by the silence from so many organisations whose voices have previously been so loud in this space,” Ms Conway told The Australian. “The best they could come up with were mealy mouthed statements of moral equivalence. The inability to pronounce disgust, to express condemnation for the barbarity of using rape as a weapon, was utterly shocking; a wake-up call to Jews, particularly Jewish women.”

More than 600 Jewish women have condemned the selective silence of women’s rights organisations about the rape, murder, and kidnapping of Israeli women and children by Hamas on October 7. Picture: Cameron Stewart

One of the speakers at the rally was 18 year old Mika, a childhood friend of 19 year old Naama Levy, who was taken hostage by Hamas and whose photos with her bloody tracksuit pants have been seen around the world.

She told the crowd: “Let’s get rid of the ‘MeToo unless you’re a Jew attitude and just stick to the MeToo.’

The shadow federal education minister Sarah Henderson said the torment and suffering of Jewish women and girls at the hands of Hamas must be ‘universally condemned without qualification.’

“It is our duty not to stay silent, it is our duty to speak out about the sexual violence that Israeli and Jewish women experienced at the hands of Hamas. It should not take 57 days,’ she said, referring to the length of time UN Women took to criticise Hamas for its rape and murder of Jewish women.