The Truth Matters

Denying sexual violence on Oct. 7 only perpetuates a cycle of brutality.

Photo by Mohammed Ibrahim on Unsplash

Yesterday, I had a piece in the New York Times about the dangers in denying, ignoring, or minimizing the many acts of sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas and others against Israeli women on Oct. 7. I hope you’ll head over there and read it. The level of denialism, generally to serve a political end and coming from thousands and thousands of people including some with large platforms, has left me stunned and disgusted. So many reactions to Oct. 7 and the war that followed have been revolting in their utter inhumanity, especially in the refusal of so many people to extend any empathy, decency, or even recognition to innocents not on their favored side. That does seem to be behind much of the sexual violence denialism: A fear that recognizing one group’s suffering may somehow take away from, or even justify, another’s.

It doesn’t. Behaving as though it does isn’t protective or virtuous; it’s perpetrating a cycle of dehumanization and brutality. It is both immoral and counterproductive.

This war has extracted a devastating toll: According to the Gaza health ministry, more than 18,600 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, and tens of thousands of more wounded, traumatized, pushed from their homes or all of the above. More than 60 journalists and media workers are among those dead, most have lost their lives in Israeli airstrikes. Close to two million people — 85% of Palestinians in Gaza — have been displaced, and the destruction is so extreme that it’s unclear where, exactly, people will be able to return when the war ends. This is a horror, and we should face it squarely.