Dr. Kochav Elkayam-Levi directs the world's gaze to one of the nightmarish episodes in the events of the massacre: the systematic acts of rape and abuse carried out by Hamas terrorists, throughout the entire section. To her astonishment, many insist on not acknowledging this.

Elkayam-Levi from the Department of International Relations at the Hebrew University does wish to reduce her involvement, but the truth is that in recent weeks she has been playing a central role in directing attention to one of the nightmarish episodes of the 10/7 events. 

The civil commission regarding Hamas crimes against women and children, which she founded, directs the spotlight to the acts of rape and other sexual crimes committed by the terrorists under the auspices of the attack on the south.

So far, the Commission has not collected evidence directly, but it will begin to do so soon. "We waited for those relevant witnesses to give official testimony to the police, with the intention of conducting in-depth interviews with them," says Elkayam-Levi.

"The torture of the women was used as a weapon in destroying communities, sowing general terror and breaking the spirit of the Israelis," she continues. She infers this, among other things, from the words of the terrorists, who testified that the mission assigned to them included rape. 

Indeed, the Shin Bet published at least two investigations of the terrorists in Noh'ba in which they were asked if they received specific instructions to abuse women and children as well. Referring to the sexual crimes, one of them said that the goal was to "dirty them, rape them." A second terrorist said that "the commander said: You have to step on their heads. chop off their heads. Do everything for them."

In "Yediot Ahronoth" a military official was quoted as saying that "the terrorists said that the purpose of the beheading and rape was to sow fear and panic in the Israeli public." In addition, President Herzog revealed in an interview on CNN a pamphlet found on a terrorist's body detailing the Hamas hostage kidnapping plan. "This booklet is an operating manual," he said, "How do you enter a citizen's yard, a kibbutz, a city, a moshav, how do you break in there. And first of all, what do you do when you find the citizens? You torture them. It says exactly how to torture them."

Among other things, the commission strives to achieve recognition in the international arena that the actions of Hamas against women and children are covered under the definition of crimes against humanity. 

To achieve this, the Commission hoped to rouse the women's organizations affiliated to the United Nations from their slumber. The main disappointment came from CEDAW (the Conference on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women) and UN WOMEN. are supposed to be the first channel from which information regarding human rights violations against women and children is spilled."

Elkayam-Levi took a deep breath, and began a chilling review of evidence of rape and sexual abuse. After eight minutes of a gut-wrenching monologue, she asked to stop. "Suddenly seeing the big picture, the scope of the violence, it was a punch in the stomach"

These bodies hesitated in their response to the events, and the statements they eventually issued were frustrating, to say the least. "All kinds of vague messages like this begin to come out, calling on both sides to 'show restraint', and simply remove the Seventh of October from the timeline. A parallel universe. The terrible betrayal we felt accumulated into the feeling that wild incitement is being directed towards us. In the very early stages of the war, these organizations start running campaigns About the genocide that Israel is perpetrating in Gaza. I have great discomfort in saying this, but these bodies actually turned out to be anti-Semitic bodies."

"As soon as these organizations are silent, or do not report the truth, we are in trouble," she continues. "It is not possible that experts who are supposed to recognize the plight of women, subject them to political considerations and refrain from reporting what happened in a disaster of such magnitude. It is unimaginable that a UN agency responsible for women's rights ignores the women who were kidnapped, murdered and raped by Hamas."v

In Elkayam-Levi's view, this is a replication of the same denial mechanisms that are often used in relation to individual rape cases. "After all, when a woman is raped, the discourse immediately focuses on evidentiary questions - whether or not there is evidence of rape. The woman is doubted, her credibility is questioned, a question mark is placed around whether it happened or not. This casting of doubt is now directed against us at the collective level."

"Questions are asked like: Is there sperm or no sperm? Was there a rape-kit or was there not a rape-kit? I am permeated by it. Those world-renowned jurists who conduct this discussion probably do not have a basic understanding of international law. International law does not speak the language of the individual case My call to them is to look beyond these mechanisms of denial.

There are a number of respectable women standing in front of you and telling you that shocking crimes were committed here. Am I the one who has to provide the evidence for the terrorists' actions? What kind of horror is this that they put the burden of proof on me?"

"In the case of October 7, we will never know the extent of the vulnerability," she continues. "We know that the vast majority of those who were harmed were also murdered. If there were survivors who were harmed, decades could pass before they muster the courage to tell. In the few cases where someone else witnessed their suffering,

I assume that even then questions will arise such as what exactly he saw and if he was a witness Amin. I'm not going to participate in this game."

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