Mick Hartley

Nimco Ali, chief executive of the Five Foundation which campaigns against female genital mutilation, on the Hamas rapes on October 7th and after.

The evidence is overwhelming. Women were raped. Bodies were mutilated. One survivor described hiding for hours while hearing women around her screaming as they were assaulted. Others have spoken about sexual abuse in captivity.

Yet much of the international feminist movement hesitated, equivocated or simply stayed silent. That silence was devastating. I wish I could say I was surprised. But, as a black woman who has spent years challenging the way violence against women is sometimes softened or excused in the name of culture or politics, I have seen this selectivity before. For years some activists insisted on framing FGM as a “cultural practice” that simply required understanding rather than calling it what it is: violence against girls.

What makes the indifference to the rape of Israeli women so disturbing is that it reveals something darker. Antisemitism. When Jewish women were raped during a massacre, many of the voices that speak loudly about women’s rights fell silent or, worse, questioned whether it happened at all.

The world has gathered in New York for the United Nations commission on the status of women. There are speeches about ending sexual violence in conflict. There are panels about solidarity and justice. But how many have spoken about the women taken to Gaza and raped by a terrorist organisation? How many have acknowledged that the hesitation after October 7 has already weakened the global fight against rape as a weapon of war?…

The suffering of women on October 7 cannot be undone. But the lesson we choose to take from their suffering will shape the future. Either rape in war is always a crime against humanity. Or it depends on who the victim is.