On the Rape of Jewish Women: October 7th in the Shadow of the Shoah

• In Event: Gush Katif, 2005, Gaza, and the October 7 Massacres

Abstract

Stories about the October 7 th attacks also involving incidences of rape surfaced almost immediately in the event’s aftermath. The terrifying accounts and photos of those who witnessed the events, and in particular the video images of Hamas soldiers abducting scores of young women from the Nova festival circulating widely through social media seemed to suggest as much. In the weeks that followed, some Israeli witnesses indeed reported gruesome stories that appeared to affirm widespread or even systematic use of sexual violence by Hamas. For many Israelis and Jews in communities in the diaspora the impression that rape had been part of the attack began to take hold and shaped their response. The excessive nature of the violence and the fear that rape would now also possibly threaten the hostages taken to Gaza informed subsequent support (ranging anywhere from reluctant to enthusiastic) for the retaliatory war the Israeli army would come to wage in Gaza.

In the months after, however, not much evidence could be found for the claim of widespread rape. The official Israeli explanation was that little forensic evidence was gathered due to the number of victims and Jewish burial customs. Survivor accounts of sexual violence were hard to come by because rape victims had been murdered, or the assaults produced disassociation or shame. The assertion that sexual violence had been a central aspect of the Hamas attack was strongly reaffirmed by the Israeli government, however, and presented to the UN on December 4th by the Israeli ambassador and Sheryl Sandberg (former FB/Meta executive). At this point, international media took note and began to report
widely on it.

Since then, the facts around many of the central witness accounts have become disputed. Yet the story about mass rape has played a significant role in the interpretation of the meaning of the October 7th attacks, however. This paper traces how this story became so central, and what functions it fulfilled in a larger discourse on war, perpetration, and victimization. It suggests that the postmemory of the Shoah and the role of sexual violence in it plays a significant role in the Jewish response. It also illustrates how stories about purported enemy rape during war and armed conflict function ideologically and politically and shows that the outrage produce through such stories, while ostensibly expressing concern for the welfare of (female) victims of sexual violence, do very little to benefit the actual victims. Instead, the victims serve as symbols, as a stand in for a “violated nation” whose men need to exact violent revenge in their name.

Author

• Pascale Bos, University of Texas at Austin