NICHOLAS WOODE-SMITH: Silence on October 7 sexual violence by Hamas reflects SA’s rape culture

Despite the brutality and systematic sexual violence that occurred in Israel on October 7, the SA government has been reluctant to acknowledge the suffering of Israeli victims and remains silent about Hamas’ use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Civil society organisations such as the SA Jewish Board of Deputies have put pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa and international relations & co-operation minister Naledi Pandor to at least acknowledge the sexual violence that occurred, but they have failed to do so, tacitly denying that the violence even occurred. It took months before Pandor even acknowledged that Hamas should be investigated for war crimes.

The brutality of October 7 should be remembered for all times, but much of the world seemed to forget or deny it happened within days of the event that initially shocked the world. Instead of showing solidarity with the people of Israel who had been butchered, mutilated and raped, international institutions, social media activists and many individuals in the media have been dedicated to a concerted campaign to not only deny that the events of October 7 happened, but to assert that if they did they were justified.

A group of women in SA has banded together to end the silence and to demand that government and the country recognise, empathise with and support not just victims of sexual violence who they find convenient to support, but all victims of gender-based violence. The Women’s Action Campaign SA (Wacsa) has been making waves by conducting surveys to analyse the crisis of gender-based violence infecting this country, and exposing the hypocrisy of our government with its denial and tacit support of the brutality of October 7.

Shock result

One of Wacsa’s shocking survey results was that 25% of South Africans believe rape can be justifiable, especially in wartime. About 40% believe that reports of Hamas raping and murdering Israelis is propaganda, and 29% believe the victims deserved to be raped and killed because they were apparently complicit in Israel’s conflict with Palestine. These shocking statistics feed into the broader reason the SA government denies that Hamas raped Israeli women on October 7 — and why this country stands as one of the three rape capitals of the world.

Wacsa hosted a powerful and insightful webinar on April 15 addressing the brutality of October 7, and the world’s disappointing response. Webinar host Annika Larsen stressed that the burden of proof has been raised impossibly high for victims of sexual violence — especially Israeli victims, who are not believed despite film, witness and forensic evidence. It should be emphasised that the majority of the victims did not survive to testify or recount the atrocities that took place in their own words.

The #MeToo movement advanced recognition of victims and survivors, destigmatising their experiences and shifting society to adopt a victim-centric approach to sexual violence. Yet this has not been applied to Israeli women. Danielle Ofek founded #MeToo_UnlessYoureAJew to expose this hypocrisy: “[October 7] was a crime against humanity and should be of global concern.”

Rozanne Sack, co-founder of Koleinu SA, an advocacy organisation for victims of gender-based violence, spoke about SA’s unfortunate culture of sexual violence, providing context to the survey results. Women can’t feel truly safe in this country as they are viewed as objects by predatory men who use their resentment and desire for power as an excuse to commit evil.

SA has developed a culture of victim blaming, shaming and outright denial, which exacerbates our catastrophic sexual violence. “SA is plagued by sexual violence and we’ve sadly become quite used to it,” Larsen noted.

It is no wonder that a country that experiences so much sexual violence, with a government that does not seem to care, would harbour so many people who think Hamas’ actions were justified or that the victims are lying. Frankly, we should all be appalled by the refusal of our government and fellow South Africans to show even a tinge of empathy.

What is clear from all this is that Hamas not only perpetrated the mass rape of Israelis on October 7 but used it as a systematic, predetermined and co-ordinated weapon of war — to humiliate, dehumanise and dominate.

The SA government, the UN, the media and women’s organisations locally and abroad need to address any denial and distrust of victims that occurs just because they’re Israeli. Hamas committed a vile, unforgivable act, and so far our government has condoned it. It is up to us to ensure this changes.

• Woode-Smith is a political analyst, economic historian and author. He has written extensively on the Israel-Hamas War.