The Shameful Behavior of Academic Women’s Associations

In the days following the Hamas massacre of Israeli men, women and children on October 7, stories and images began to emerge that suggested Hamas was targeting women for violent sexual assault. Video footage of a young women’s half-naked, presumably dead body paraded by men through Gaza, followed by another video of a woman with blood on the seat of her pants being forced into a car, raised the question of whether sexual assault was being used as a weapon of war.

Within days, survivors of the music festival in the south of Israel begin to recount some of the gruesome acts of sexual assault they witnessed, including the gang rape, mutilation and execution of one woman. In the following weeks, volunteers from Zaka, a non-governmental rescue and recovery organization, relayed what they had found as they collected bodies from both the festival site and the kibbutzim: women and young girls naked from the waist own, bloody and often mutilated, with many women separated into different rooms. Similarly, those who were first to arrive at the scene of the music festival massacre—volunteer medics, soldiers, friends and family looking for loved ones—recounted a recurring theme of women’s bodies being partially or fully unclothed, legs splayed. One survivor returned to look for her friend and took a video of what she found. “In a grainy video, you can see her, lying on her back, dress torn, legs spread, vagina exposed. Her face is burned beyond recognition and her right hand covers her eyes.” One woman was found with dozens of nails driven into her thighs and groin. Forensic pathologists who arrived from around the world to help sift through body and bone fragments to identify victims also began to testify about the stories that lifeless and burned bodies told, finding many signs of torture and sexual abuse.

By the time The New York Times came out with an investigative report on Dec. 28 titled, “’Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on Oct. 7,” which “uncovered new details showing a pattern of rape, mutilation and extreme brutality against women in the attacks,” the horror story became impossible to ignore.

Still, Jew haters couldn’t resist asking, “But where is the evidence?” and “Why haven’t we heard from the women who were raped?”

We know, of course, that most women who were assaulted did not survive. The few who did are likely so damaged that it will be a long time—if ever—before they can speak publicly about what they endured. As many have noted by this point, women’s organizations, including at the United Nations, were largely silent on these events, even though many quickly and loudly decried the military strikes in Gaza. The National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA), an academic organization established in 1977 and devoted to issues of women and gender not just in academia but also around the world made two statements about the war in Gaza, neither of which mentioned the targeted attacks on women by Hamas.

The first, published on Oct. 11, 2023, before Israel entered Gaza, mourned the “extensive loss of civilian life” in Gaza and Israel, but blamed Israel entirely. Although the NWSA is an organization devoted to the study and protection of women, the organization’s first statement mentions women only once, and refers to violence against Palestinian women but ignores the violence against women in Israel. “As feminists,” they state, “we recognize that violence and war often inflict gendered and sexualized harms on women and queer, trans and non-binary people. We cannot look away while this violence destroys people’s lives. The struggle for Palestinian liberation and for a just and lasting peace in the region is intertwined with the liberation and resistance movements led by other indigenous, colonized, and oppressed peoples everywhere. Today, we reaffirm our unwavering support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) resolution, which NWSA passed in 2015. We pledge to continue to work as hard as we can to educate ourselves and our communities about the historic injustice, suffering, and resistance of Palestinians.”

It’s a shocking statement given that the Hamas massacre of people in Israel, which included the singling out of women for especially brutal and sexual violence, had transpired only four days prior. The problem is not that the NWSA expressed support for Palestinian women; the problem is that by blatantly omitting the horrific assaults on Israeli women from their statement they attempted to rewrite the history of these murdered and assaulted women before their blood had even dried.

The problem is not that the NWSA expressed support for Palestinian women; the problem is that … they attempted to rewrite the history of these murdered and assaulted women before their blood had even dried.

Over the next days and weeks more and more information about sexual violence targeting women in Israel emerged, making it even more impossible to ignore. But on Oct. 31, the NWSA issued another statement. Given that more concrete evidence regarding sexual violence committed toward women in Israel had emerged since their first statement, NWSA had an opportunity to express solidarity with and concern for all women, including both Israelis and Palestinians. While expressing legitimate concern for women in Gaza as the war was underway, they could have also spoken on behalf of the women held hostage by Hamas, but they didn’t. They could have demanded an investigation into the gender-based violence committed by Hamas, but they didn’t. Instead, they used their platform to denounce Israel for crimes against humanity: “NWSA strongly condemns the ongoing and persistent U.S. government’s support for Israel’s vengeful war on Gaza. Sponsoring violence against a caged population in the name of ‘self-defense’ makes us complicit in crimes against humanity!”

Reading both of these statements, one would think that no crimes against humanity had been committed by Hamas against Israeli women. This omission, this distortion of the facts in order to bolster their political agenda, is not just a duplicitous twisting of the facts; it’s a blatant expression of antisemitism.

This omission, this distortion of the facts in order to bolster their political agenda, is not just a duplicitous twisting of the facts; it’s a blatant expression of antisemitism.

These statements understandably flew under the radar for most people. But on Nov. 27, 2023, the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition (ZRC) published an Open Letter to the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA). ZRC’s letter strongly condemned the NWSA for issuing two statements against Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attacks while failing to condemn the barbaric atrocities committed by Hamas on Israeli men, women and children.

The letter, drafted primarily by Rabbi Lisa Malik, argues: “The women who were raped, tortured, and slaughtered in Israel on October 7 were not collateral damage of the Hamas attackers. They were targets.”

In a conversation with the Journal, Malik noted that the second statement published by NWSA came on the heels of the organization’s annual conference, at which there were no panels or presentations on the sexual violence of the Oct. 7 attacks despite there being many presentations on rape culture. In fact, one presenter actually used rape metaphors to describe Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, making clear that the primary concern of the organization is not women, but rather the political ideology to which they are wedded.

The danger in these statements is that many people mistakenly assume that academics are neutral and their positions are factual and research based. That should be the case, but it has never been the case. Certainly there are many academics who teach and write with integrity and who are not driven by their own political and ideological agendas. But history shows us that academia is not immune to being infected by some of the most perverse ideologies and rhetoric. Even in Hitler’s Germany professors willingly joined the Nazi party (though it was not obligatory) and disseminated anti-Jewish propaganda in their classrooms. Academic expertise has never guaranteed a just perspective or an ethical response.

The NWSA’s anti-Jewish statements are not an anomaly; they are a trademark of the discipline, a hallmark of contemporary academia.

The NWSA’s anti-Jewish statements are not an anomaly; they are a trademark of the discipline, a hallmark of contemporary academia.

The ZRC sent their open letter to NWSA president Dr. Heidi R. Lewis, who is the David & Lucile Packard Professor and Associate Professor of Feminist & Gender Studies at Colorado College. She specializes in Feminist Theory and Politics (emphasis on Black Feminism), Hip Hop Discourse (emphasis on Rap), and Critical Media Studies. Two months later, the ZRC has received no response. (It is worth noting that Academic Engagement Network also issued a response to the NWSA statements, to which they also have received no response.)

On Dec. 1, after the mainstream media started catching up to the story, UN Women finally issued a statement demanding accountability for victims of sexual torture on Oct. 7. The previously mentioned investigation by The New York Times published on Dec. 28 verified what we already knew: “that the attacks against women were not isolated events but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct. 7.” And in January of this year, even UN experts have demanded accountability for victims of sexual torture during the Oct. 7 attacks.

Given that the horrific mass sexual violence toward women in Israel has now been verified in excruciating detail, one would hope that the NWSA would finally issue a statement condemning this violence. Their continued silence lays bare not just their hypocrisy but also the organization’s true concern, which has everything to do with pushing the narratives that support their political leanings. One would expect that a women’s organization would be especially sensitive to the nature of the attacks against women in Israel, and yet it appears that the opposite is true. One can’t help but ask: How hard would it have been to condemn sexual violence against Israeli women? It would not have been necessary to express support for the Israeli government. It also would not have been necessary to forgo support of Palestinian women as Gaza comes under military siege by Israel. Both groups of women deserve support by organizations claiming to fight for the rights and protection of women, but consistently only one group of women is ignored by women’s organizations: Jewish and Israeli women.

The question is whether now, after the sexual violence against women in Israel has been confirmed over and over again, the NWSA—the nation’s largest network of feminist scholars, educators, and activists—will demonstrate moral awareness and address their shameful ignoring of Israeli and Jewish women.

Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, chair of ZRC, founding Rabbi of Congregation B’nai Tzedek and prominent thought leader, said that ZRC is “the first rabbinic group to come out in a strong statement condemning the women’s studies group for their lack of response … and for their hypocrisy, their moral bankruptcy, and their blindness” when it comes to women in Israel. Weinblatt feels that it is “incumbent upon us to do that.” That NWSA refused to take a stand against Hamas’s violence toward women in Israel is, according to Weinblatt, part of a larger problem, which is “the lack of ability to recognize what is done when it’s done against Israel or against Jews.”

In a recent sermon, Weinblatt recalls the biblical story of the rape of Dinah and wonders which element of the story is most disturbing: “Is it that she was taken and raped by Shechem? Is it the silence of her father Jacob in the face of his daughter being violated? Is it the complicity of the townspeople? Is it the actions of Dinah’s brothers, Simon and Levi, who proceed to deceive and then inflict collective punishment on the entire city as retribution for their sister being taken against her will?” One could ask some of these same questions with regard to the rape, sexual torture, and mutilation of women in Israel. By what are we most disturbed? The acts themselves, the fact that some Palestinian people were complicit with Hamas, or the silence of women’s and human rights organizations in the face of such horrors?

I asked Rabbi Weinblatt what the ZRC hopes to accomplish with the publication of their open letter. He hopes that the result will be reflection on the part of the NWSA, that there will be a reassessment and that they will develop greater sensitivity when it comes to violence against Jewish and Israeli women rather than turning a blind eye.

With that reflection and reassessment I hope they will add seeking forgiveness.

Monica Osborne is a former professor of literature, critical theory, and Jewish studies. She is Editor at Large at The Jewish Journal and is author of “The Midrashic Impulse.” X @DrMonicaOsborne