More than a month after the deadly attacks launched by Hamas in Israel, the country is still gradually discovering new aspects of the crimes committed by members of the Islamist movement’s commandos. According to the authorities, 1,200 were killed, often massacred. And 239 people were taken hostage. Forty days later, almost a third of the victims have not yet been identified. But among those killed or kidnapped are many women. And several elements indicate that violence and sexual mutilation were perpetrated. Israeli police have opened an investigation specifically into these cases.
3 mins
With our special correspondent in Jerusalem,
On his phone, Orit Sulitzeanu shows several photos. Images of women with their pants off or bodies bearing traces of probable sexual assault. “ It’s very difficult for me to watch this. Here you see a 19 year old woman. We all know his name in Israel. And there you see his pants which are clean except at his buttocks where there is blood. If she had sat in blood, it would have been all over her pants. But no, it’s very localized on his buttocks. This means she was brutally raped. Because no one bleeds like that. »
These photos come from Telegram channels and social networks. Sometimes published by Hamas itself and collected by activists before they were deleted, says the executive director of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel.
Cases of sexual assault remain difficult to quantify. Survivors find it difficult to talk about it. And for women who were killed, evidence was not always collected, says Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, a women’s rights expert at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv. “ One of the great difficulties in this case is that, to our knowledge, none of the bodies underwent a specific autopsy to find forensic evidence of sexual violence. The reason is that there was no protocol for this. »
“ This was the first time and hopefully the last time that Israeli society faced such an event. And it is also important to remember that autopsies are not common or a regular procedure in Israel, before burial: it is part of religious tradition “, she continues. “ Finally, in other cases – forgive me for this description – the bodies that were brought to the forensic institute were in such a state that no forensic evidence could be taken to indicate sexual violence “.
Orit Sulitzeanu and Ruth Halperin-Kaddari hope that justice will be served for these crimes, either before the International Criminal Court or at the national level. But the academic, who also sat on the United Nations committee for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, denounces the silence of international organizations on the subject. A petition has been launched to demand a position from UN Women: it is entitled “ Me too, unless you’re a Jew », “Me too, unless you are Jewish”, in reference to the international “Metoo” movement denouncing violence against women.