Why Are Many Feminists Silent About the Rape of Israeli Women By Hamas?

Is The Future Still Female?

ANALYST AVAILABLE: Edward E. Bartlett, is the President of DAVIA: Domestic Abuse and Violence International Alliance.

Israeli First Lady Michal Herzog recently spoke out against UN Women and other feminist groups for their “inconceivable and unforgiveable silence…when faced with the rape and murder of Israeli women.” These groups “failed us, and all women, at this critical moment,” she charged.

Herzog was referring, of course, to the October 7 invasion of Israel in which Hamas terrorists raped and killed multitudes of women. One morgue worker later recounted, “There is evidence of mass rape so brutal that they broke their victims’ pelvis—women, grandmothers, children.”

In response, UN Women issued a bland Statement on the Situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory that white-washed the rapes. Numerous other feminist groups likewise turned their backs on Israeli women.

Commentator Teri Christoph called out feminists by name: “Perhaps the most enraging failure of Western ‘feminists’ involves their very apparent lack of public outrage about the murders and rapes of Israeli women at the hands of Hamas terrorists…. Shame on them all.”

Now a new group is charging, “UN Women, Your Silence is Unforgivable”. And hundreds of New York City Jews telephoned the United Nations demanding the resignation of UN Women chief Sima Bahous. 

But Israelis are not the only ones who have felt the sting of feminist betrayal. For years, men have been targeted by the gender invective.

When Valerie Solanas published her book, SCUM Manifesto, it became an instant feminist hit. SCUM stands for “Society for Cutting Up Men.” Other feminists have expressed equally vile sentiments:

• “The proportion of men must be reduced to…10% of the human race.” – Sally Miller Gearhart

• “Kill all men.” – Clementine Ford

• “Patriarchy requires violence, or the subliminal threat of violence in order to maintain itself.” – Gloria Steinem

UN Women currently is conducting a Twitter campaign that only recognizes women as domestic violence victims. And a UN domestic violence fact sheet makes no mention of female-perpetrated abuse, creating a detrimental stereotype of men as abusers.

It’s well known that the feminist movement is based on Marxist ideology. Marxism divides the world into two camps: oppressors and the oppressed. Accordingly, feminist ideology casts Israelis for allegedly being “colonizers” of Palestine, and likewise condemns men for being putative upholders of the “patriarchy.”

But with Michal Herzog inveighing against the “unforgiveable silence” of women’s groups and leading commentators like Janice Fiamengo writing articles about “the New Feminist Hate,” the façade of feminist benevolence has been irrevocably shattered.

Edward E. Bartlett, is the President of DAVIA: Domestic Abuse and Violence International Alliance.