It’s Time to Stop Ignoring the Sexual Violence Happening in Gaza

World / May 7, 2024

Introduction

As long as our outrage is selectively assigned only to specific victims in specific contexts, we are lying to ourselves about the reality of violence in war zones.

Screams Before Silence: Shedding Light on Sexual Violence during the Hamas Assault

On April 26, Kastina Communications, a Tel Aviv-based production company, released Screams Before Silence, a documentary that aims to shed light on the sexual violence that occurred during the October 7 Hamas assault in Israel. The documentary, which premiered at the Times Center on April 25 and is available to watch online, opens to disembodied voices recalling the brutal scenes of October 7: naked bodies, bloodied pants, and terrified girls forcibly being taken hostage. Throughout the documentary, host Sheryl Sandberg, the former COO of Meta, presses her subjects on two key questions: were the rapes systematically planned? And did Hamas use rape as a weapon of war?

The Silencing of Victims and the International Community’s Lack of Attention

The answers are embedded in the questions, but Screams Before Silence has a parallel thesis: that the victims of the sexual violence were silenced not only as a result of their brutal murder but also by the world. Sandberg spent four days in Israel interviewing released hostages, Israeli police officers, and members of ZAKA, a controversial search-and-rescue organization, and survivors from the Nova Music Festival, all who provided testimony to what they witnessed or experienced firsthand. In a pivotal moment, security footage shows Hamas fighters admitting to raping women. So why, Sandberg asks, is the international community not paying attention?

The Ongoing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Gaza

It’s not an entirely impartial question, since mainstream media has paid outsized attention to allegations of Hamas-perpetrated sexual violence, and Israeli leadership has weaponized unreliable reporting to justify their military incursion into Gaza. Still, although there are serious shortcomings underpinning Sandberg’s reporting—for example, some of the sources Sandberg uses have been discredited or discounted by human rights experts—any survivor of sexual violence should be taken seriously, and their stories deserve to be told with respect and dignity. But if we can agree that these stories are important, we should also agree that telling everyone’s story is important. And a glaring omission in this documentary, as well as the broader conversation about the sexual violence, is that there is ongoing sexual and gender-based violence happening in Gaza. As Israeli survivors receive some international attention, there seems to be even less attention and desire to highlight the violence endured by Gazans.

The Reality of Gender-Based Violence in Gaza

Although mainstream media outlets have practically ignored the realities of Gazan women, major international human rights bodies have been keeping track. As of April 16, over 10,000 women have been killed in Gaza, leaving approximately 19,000 children orphaned, UN Women reported on April 16. In testimonies documented by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, dozens of women Palestinian detainees from Gaza report being subjected to verbal and sexual harassment, violence, torture, strip searches, and rape threats while unlawfully arrested and held by the Israeli military.

The Disparity in Attention and Concern for Palestinian Women

Since Israel launched its war on Gaza, Gazan men and women have provided extensive testimony as to the nature of sexual assault perpetrated by the Israeli military. And although gendered violence pervaded everyday life for Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza prior to the current ongoing assault, feminists who rally around the reports of rape of Israeli women, like Sheryl Sandberg and Hillary Clinton, have not lent Palestinian women the same level of concern.

The Pervasiveness of Violence against Palestinians and Western Apathy

Is it the pervasiveness of violence perpetrated against Palestinians that numbs Western audiences to it? Often, Palestinian suffering is deemed as unfortunate but necessary collateral damage in the pursuit for Jewish safety.

Overlooking Other Forms of Gender-Based Violence

The journalist Peter Beinart describes this as anti-Palestinian bigotry, which is often overlooked “not because anti-Palestinian bigotry is rare but because it is ubiquitous.” The ubiquity of Western audiences writing off Palestinian concerns also desensitizes them to the everyday reality of violence, whether encountering harassment at checkpoints in the West Bank or the epidemic of malnourishment in Gaza.

The Broader Impact of Israel’s Military Assault on Gaza

Although Gazan women have given testimony to sexual violence perpetrated by Israeli soldiers, gender-based violence is also much broader and more manifold than this. Israel’s military assault and its subsequent manufacturing of a mass humanitarian crisis in Gaza has resulted in wide-scale violence that disproportionately affects women.

The False Container of Rape as the Signifier of Sexual Violence

The litmus test of rape as the signifier of sexual violence creates a false container for the reality of gender-based violence in war zones. Gender-based violence encompasses rape, but it is not limited to it. And what we’re witnessing in Gaza transcends rape and gender.

Conclusion

Rape is a horrifying reality of war and conflict, and both Israeli and Gazan survivors deserve their testimonies to be heard and metabolized by accountable parties. But as long as our outrage is selectively assigned only to specific victims in specific contexts, we are lying to ourselves about the reaches of violence, and the way it reverberates and haunts peoples’ lives in layered, corrosive ways.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 5: Gender Equality
• SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• SDG 5.2: Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres
• SDG 16.1: Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere
• SDG 16.3: Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

• Number of reported cases of sexual violence in conflict zones
• Number of convictions and legal actions taken against perpetrators of sexual violence
• Access to justice for survivors of sexual violence
• Number of women and girls affected by gender-based violence in conflict zones

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Fuente: thenation.com

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