Editor’s Note: The following is in response to Lana Tatour’s article “How human rights organizations are aiding the Israeli assault on Gaza” published by Mondoweiss on December 12, 2023.
Criticism of our recent position paper on sex and gender-based violence (SGBV) during the October 7 Hamas attacks argues that in publishing it, we are aiding the Israeli attack on Gaza. We welcome critique of our work, especially from partners in our yearslong struggle for Palestinian rights, but are disturbed by this misguided and dishonest criticism.
We acknowledge that our position paper on SGBV differs from PHRI’s previous publications, but there are professional and ethical reasons for that (detailed below). Those who follow our statements on social media and in the 10 newsletters we sent out since the October 7 events can attest to our consistent position against the Israeli attack on Gaza and other human rights violations taking place during these disastrous times. Critics considering our work in this broader context would come to more nuanced conclusions. Understandably, there are still disagreements about our judgment on this subject, but we consider accusations of racism and supporting genocide misguided.
In the aftermath of the October 7 attack, it became apparent that there was an objective difficulty in collecting evidence or independently corroborating information that became public. There was (and still is) no access to forensic evidence, and contacting survivors of SGBV or witnesses requires immense caution, much professional support, and resources. This left us a choice between not publishing anything about this painful subject in a timely manner or publishing a modest interim position paper (not a “report”). The urgent need to support survivors and call public attention to the needs of hostages led us to the decision to publish such an interim position paper that carefully reviews the available information in the public sphere and modestly calls for an independent investigation into the events. In the paper, we explicitly state, time and again, that it is based on public records, with the caveat that only proper professional investigation will be able to determine the scale of SGBV perpetrated on October 7. It is also worth noting that SGBV is not limited to rape cases. In our paper, we address information on the entire spectrum of SGBV, some of which is indisputable, such as Hamas’s real-time documentation of a naked Israeli woman displayed in public.
Some of the more specific claims in the criticism directed at our paper are bluntly dishonest, including misrepresentations of our arguments and use of resources. We urge the readers to read the position paper and judge for themselves: https://www.phr.org.il/en/gender-based-violence-eng/
This paper is indeed different from our other publications, not because we value the lives of Jewish Israelis more than the lives of Palestinians, but because we considered this response to be the best possible way to engage with a complicated reality. We value your feedback and call for your support as we continue to do everything we can to protect everyone’s human rights between the river and the sea.
One video of a woman being taken hostage to Gaza in the back of a truck, shows the hostage taker attempting to put a head-covering on her. So this particular religious Muslim was taking offense, or something, at the hostage’s lack of modesty, and attempting to give her more clothes rather than less. Of course observant Muslims are capable of rape, but I hardly think that was the direction.
I doubt I’ll be able to dig up that video. Sorry.
For my above comment, it may have been a mainstream news cast, like CBS or NBC that I saw the video. The news anchor said something like “he’s trying to put a kind of blindfold on her”. But he was putting it on the top of her head, not over her eyes. It was a head covering. News casters are idiots.
PHRI repeats the worst allegations – I think Mondoweiss looked into them. First the claim of intention, sorry, Hamas didn’t even know there was going to be a music festival. Their stated claim was to take hostages and attack military targets, there’s no good reason to believe anyone who’s likely been tortured by the Shin Bet into saying there was an intention to “sully” women.
I feel really bad for Shani Louk & her relatives and the other victims, but I doubt the Hamas militants undressed her before kidnapping her, or other festival goers before killing them (assuming Hamas killed them and not the IDF). Did Hamas intentionally “display” her? They carried her in the back of a truck, perhaps not knowing she was dying or dead. Other hostages were also taken in the backs of trucks, but Shani Louk happened to be partially undressed. “Parade” is an incendiary description, regardless of the actual effect of her being half naked in the back of the truck. It’s quite possible the intended destination was the Indonesian hospital. I doubt Hamas stopped in the middle of a military operation to gang rape women. They appear to be a fairly disciplined fighting force. Rapes in war usually happen after the military force has control. And pelvic bones broken? That’s rare from rape. Even gang rape.
Without a genuinely independent investigation, the lurid accusations remain just that, lurid accusations. The reference to other conflicts does nothing for the particular violence. The paper and PHRI accept, in so many words, that the accusations are true. The paper is full of “strategic disclaimers,” i.e., implying something is true but saying well it might not be true. Of course if anyone was raped Oct 7, whoever did it should be prosecuted. To decry “dishonesty” in the criticism of the paper is in itself dishonest.
But since so many victims happen to be Palestinians…looking the other way. Bloody hypocrites.
I watch the Internet Intifada today, and they said that at the U.N., declaring whether something is a genocide is regarded as a political matter, not a matter of human rights. That’s atrocious!!!
Made me wonder: If something like the U.N. had been around in the 1940s, would it have denounced the Jewish genocide? Come to think of it, the League of Nations was around in the 1930s, and it was useless.