The former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky breaks the silence: «Hamas used rape as a weapon. It’s not over, there are still hostages ”
According to a recent document produced by a group of Israeli researchers of the “Dinah Project», Fifteen former hostages – thirteen women and two men – said they had suffered or witnessed sexual violence during their detention by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The members of the Dinah project, all gender experts, have collected testimonies directed by these 15 hostages freed, by a woman who survived an attempt to rape during the attacks of the 7 October 2023from 17 Ocular and hearing witnesses and 27 rescuers who operated on the scenes of the massacres. The set of testimonies, combined with forensic reports, photographic material and video of the attacks, led the research team to conclude that Hamas He resorted to sexual violence in a systematic and deliberate way, using it as a “tactical” weapon and war tool.
Feminists and policies in the square for Hamas and not for the victims of rape
The dossier, made public on Tuesday, collects several experiences of surviving victims. In one case, a woman was beaten and abused sexually under the threat of a firearm during captivity. He reported that he had been chained to an ankle with an iron chain for three weeks, and repeatedly interrogated on his menstrual cycle. The report also explains that many of the hostages have received rape threats disguised from forced marriage proposals. Almost all survivors reported verbal sexual harassment and some episodes of unwanted physical contact in intimate areas. Israel has repeatedly denounced the indifference of international institutions – including theUN And some of his agencies – compared to the systemic sexual violence inflicted by Hamas and other armed groups during the assaults of 7 October. And what to say about the feminist activists who parade at Filopalestines eventsCan I ever pronounce a word on the sexual violence of 7 October 2023? The same silence characterized the attitude of the secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schleinand numerous other political exponents, who have never taken a real position on the horror inflicted on the victims by Hamas. A silence all the more disturbing because it is not a matter of lack of information: the stories of the survivors, the independent relationships and the confirmations of the Israeli authorities are now widely documented. However, some of the same figures who mobilize squares and consciences against abuse and disparity, today they struggle to pronounce words of solidarity for these victims.
Professor Pro-Hamas who denies rape
And what about the ineffable professor of the University of Bologna Monica Dall’Asta which on X has repeatedly defined the news of the mass rapes committed by Hamas During the attack of October 7 as a “buffalo”, without – according to him – of “overwhelming evidence”. «I have never denied that atrocities were committed. But the history of mass rapes is a construction of propaganda. Like that of beheaded children, “he wrote in one of his posts, relaunching an already widely circulated thesis in the most radical environments of the web and denied by numerous independent relationships, eye testimonies and Israeli official sources. In another tweet, the teacher writes of “speculations that leave the time they find”, claiming that “Intifada means revolt against the oppression of a ferocious apartheid”. But that’s not all: according to the Auction Which is still in its place, the one on rape would be “not verified news”, based solely on “second or third hand information reported by Israeli organizations”, and used in a “instrumental” way to justify – reads its post – “The extermination of the children of Gaza». On his X profile, the teacher – who had also inserted the symbol of peace with the colors of the Palestinian flag – defines Israel “next to the name”A Nazi state»And celebrates the figure of Marwan Barghoutileader of the second intifada and today in prison in Israel for having orchestrated a long series of terrorist attacks cost the lives of dozens of civilians.
The “Dinah Project»It was born precisely in response to these events, with the aim of obtaining justice for victims of sexual abuse. The group is made up of jurists, legal and human rights experts, and is coordinated by the professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari and from Sharon Zagagi-Pinhasformer military prosecutor of the Israeli army. The project operates under the aegis of the Ruth Center and Emanuel Rackman for the Promotion of women at The Bar-Ilan University. The first formal recognition of the use of sexual violence during attacks by the United Nations came only five months after the facts. Following a mission in Israel, the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflicts, Pra thousand Pattenhas signed a relationship in which it is stated that there are solid reasons to believe that these abuses occurred in several places and that there are clear evidence of the sexual aggression suffered by hostages held in Gaza.Hamas He rejected these accusations, defining them in December as “slander and statements without foundation”. According to the dossier, the severity of the atrocities of 7 October has put in serious rescuers and investigators in serious difficulty. The Jewish religious rules impose the burial of the deceased as soon as possible, and many of the volunteers involved – largely Orthodox – focused on the recovery of bodies, rather than on the collection of forensic elements. In numerous cases, the authorities intervened while the violence were still in progress, without the possibility of complete the crime scene in a complete way. In addition, many of the victims of rape were killedleaving a void of direct testimonies. With the passing of the months and the liberation of some hostages, it was possible to collect new feedback and detailed reconstructions thanks to the testimonies of those who have been able to rework the experience lived. The researchers of the “Dinah Project“They ask that the sexual violence committed during attacks will be officially recognized as crimes against humanity and that the managers are pursued and sentenced by the international community.
Ilana Gritzewsky: «Hamas used rape as a weapon. It’s not over, there are still hostages “
Dramatic the open letter of the former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky That for the first time after 21 months, he publicly denounced the sexual abuse inflicted by Hamas militants. The testimony, made known by Family forum of the hostages, was read during the official presentation of the “Dinah relationship» – The dossier that documents the rapes in detail on 7 October and during the detention period in Gaza – delivered to Michal Herzogwife of the Israeli president. «On the morning of Saturday 7 October 2023 I was in my home al Kibbutz Nir Oz with my partner Matan. Then, suddenly, explosions, screams, shots. The door was broken through. We were kidnapped. I remember the rifles on them. I remember foreign hands on my body. I remember the cries, and then the darkness, “Ilana told. «When I resumed knowledge, I was half a naked, surrounded by terrorists. They had beaten me, they had touched me. I didn’t know what had been done to me in the time I had lost my senses, but I felt within me that nothing would never have been as before ». And he added: «A Gaza I met hell: hunger, thirst, solitude ». The story continues with chilling details: physical and psychological tortures, fractured bones, repeated humiliations. “Fear, feeling about someone: this is the pain that never leaves me,” he said. After 55 days she returned to freedom, but for Ilana Liberation did not coincide with the end of suffering. «True freedom will only come when no one else will have to pass what I have passed. Only when people listen to. When there is no more silence, “he said. «Still today, almost two years later, people ask me if it really happened. If they really raped, burned, murdered. If men have also been affected. The answer is yes. It happened. It is still happening ». “There are still hostages in the hands of Hamas. There are men. There is a woman – perhaps already dead. And there is Matanmy partner. I don’t know what they’re doing to him, but I know what they did to me. Every day I live with the fear that he is suffering what I experienced. And it is an unbearable awareness, “he said, dedicating his testimony to all the victims who still cannot find the words.
