Women from Melbourne’s Jewish community organised a vigil on Monday evening to show solidarity for the Israeli women attacked in Hamas’ October 7 invasion.
Organisers of the vigil released a statement saying that prominent female advocacy groups such as the United Nations, Australia’s #MeToo movement and progressive politicians have failed to respond appropriately to the sexual crimes committed by Hamas against Israeli women on October 7.
“The scepticism and gaslighting of Israeli women and children who were violently raped and tortured contravenes the very tenets of these activists and organisations– namely, to support and believe all victims,” said the organisers’ statement.
Hundreds of attendees joined the event, including Kylie Moore-Gilbert, the Australian academic who was held in an Iranian prison for 804 days.
Approximately 500 of the women wore white shirts with the messages “No Excuse” and “We Believe Them”, according to the Age. And many wore tape over their mouths to protest the perceived silence from advocacy groups, while holding signs that said “#MeToo Unless you’re a Jew”.
The UN announced last week that they would commence an inquiry into war crimes on both sides of the Israel-Hamas conflict and that the scope of the investigation would extend to the “numerous accounts” of sexual violence by Hamas that have yet to be officially verified.
UN Women has released a statement on the situation in Gaza and Israel, saying that “all women, Palestinian women, as all others, are entitled to a life lived in safety and free from violence.
“We unequivocally condemn the brutal attacks by Hamas on Israel on 7 October. We are alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks. This is why we have called for all accounts of gender-based violence to be duly investigated and prosecuted, with the rights of the victim at the core.”
On December 2, United Nations Women wrote on social media: “We are alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks.”
Event organisers at Melbourne’s vigil cited this post, saying it failed to explicitly reference Israeli women and that the efforts were “too little”, “too late” and “not enough”.
Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson, who was in attendance at the vigil, wrote on social media that she was concerned “that it took UN Women 57 days to condemn the atrocities committed against Jewish and Israeli women on 7 October.”
Moore-Gilbert, who was imprisoned in Iran on espionage charges until November 2020, spoke at the Melbourne vigil, saying she wanted to acknowledge the deaths of innocent women and children in Gaza as well as the “horrific, unspeakable” sexual violence against Israelis.
“It is excruciatingly painful to watch some Western feminists and international organisations tie themselves in knots attempting to minimise, quantify or, even worse, justify” sexual violence on October 7, she said.
Georgina Williams, the chair of UN Women Australia, was also reportedly in attendance but did not speak.
Israel says Hamas killed 1200 people and took 240 hostages on October 7. Since then, about 105 hostages have been released over a seven-day ceasefire last week. According to data from the UN, more than 14,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).