Clinton, others demand condemnation of Hamas’ use of sexual violence

UNITED NATIONS — Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and top technology executive Sheryl Sandberg are demanding that women’s groups and women everywhere condemn Hamas’ acts of sexual violence against Israeli women and girls on Oct. 7.

Israel has said it is investigating several cases of sexual assault and rape from the Hamas terrorist attack.

Israel hosted a special event at the United Nations on Monday where Clinton, Gillibrand and Sandberg were among those who criticized what they called a global failure to support women who were rapped, sexually assaulted and in some cases killed.

Clinton said in a video message, “It is outrageous that some who claim to stand for justice are closing their eyes and their hearts to the victims of Hamas.”

Sandberg, the former second-ranking official at Facebook who stepped down as chief operating officer of its parent Meta Platforms in August 2022, said “the silence on the crimes committed by Hamas is dangerous” because it threatens to undo decades of progress to confront sexual violence against women.

Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, said rape has been used as a weapon of war for centuries and more recently in former Yugoslavia, in Iran, and in Ukraine by Russian soldiers. She called on the U.N. to condemn “these evil crimes.” She said the international community “must demand accountability for these intolerable crimes.”

On Sunday, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., twice hedged her condemnations of Hamas terrorists raping Israeli women during an interview with Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“I said it’s horrific, and I think that rape is horrific. Sexual assault is horrific. I think that it happens in war situations. Terrorist organizations like Hamas obviously are using these as tools, however I think we have to be balanced about bringing in the outrages against Palestinians,” she said.

Meanwhile, a State Department official on Monday said that Hamas is refusing to release women and children who were taken hostage to keep them from testifying about sexual violence they experienced.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said during a news conference that Hamas is at fault for ending a cease-fire with Israel without releasing some hostages.

“The fact that it seems one of the reasons they don’t want to turn women over, that they’ve been holding hostage, and the reason this pause fell apart, is they don’t want those women to be able to talk about what happened to them during their time in custody,” Miller said in a response to a question about evidence of rape and sexual abuse being committed by Hamas on Oct. 7.

“Certainly, there is very little that I would put beyond Hamas when it comes to its treatment of civilians, and particularly its treatment of women,” he added.

Miller later specified that he didn’t know this “for a fact,” but added that “near the end of that pause last Wednesday, we were getting towards the end, Hamas was still holding onto women that should have been the next to be released. They refused to release them. They broke the deal, came up with excuses why.”

He said: “Ultimately, I don’t think any of those excuses were credible, and I shouldn’t get into any of them here. But certainly one of the reasons that a number of people believe they refused to release them is they didn’t want people to hear what those women would have to say publicly.”