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A new report offers a plan for prosecuting Hamas for horrific acts of sexual violence.
A major new report could pave the way to prosecute Hamas for crimes against humanity. A Quest for Justice: October 7 and Beyond gives prosecutors and researchers the tools they need to finally bring charges against Hamas for sexual violence and genocide - prosecuting Hamas both for its frenzied October 7, 2023 attack, and for their brutal actions ever since. For the first time, this report documents ways Hamas used rape as a tool in its wider war, employing sexual violence as a way to carry out a larger goal of genocide against Israelis and Jews.
Numerous reports have already documented Hamas’ use of sexual violence on October 7: The United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Criminal Court, The New York Times, and other investigators found Hamas terrorists committed sexual abuse crimes on an enormous scale. Yet even today, a year and a half after Hamas’ initial attack, many journalists and others insist on denying this overwhelming evidence.
An open letter signed by over a thousand feminists accuses Israel of “weaponizing” claims that Hamas raped Israeli women in order to justify “genocide”. Left-wing news outlets consistently deny that Hamas terrorists committed any sexual crimes at all. Prize-winning British journalist Owen Jones is typical in disingenuously claiming that, after watching videos of Hamas’ attacks, he found “no conclusive evidence” that Hamas committed sexual or other war crimes.
With so much denial, it’s more important than ever to meticulously document Hamas’ crimes and to lay out a blueprint for prosecuting them and holding them accountable.
Even today, mainstream journalists continue to cast aspersions on the plentiful evidence that Hamas engaged in sexual violence. In covering this new landmark report the BBC felt the need to insist that “Hamas has denied its forces committed sexual violence against women or mistreated female hostages,” as if Hamas is a more reliable source of information than Israeli researchers.
In the face of so much denial, it’s more important than ever to meticulously document Hamas’ crimes and to lay out a blueprint for prosecuting them and holding them accountable.
A Quest for Justice, a product of the Dina Project, a legal research group headed by Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, a law professor a Bar Ilan University, Nava Ben-Or, a former judge and Deputy Israeli Attorney General, and Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas, the Israel Defense Forces’ former chief military prosecutor, provides a groundbreaking legal framework to prosecute Hamas.
These lawyers chart new ground in dividing the sexual violence crimes carried out by Hamas into 16 different categories, affecting both men and women. These crimes took place both on October 7, 2023, and later on in captivity. They might be continuing at the present time, as well.
Twenty-seven never-before-heard-from witnesses documented a least 30 specific cases of sexual violence including rape, gang rape, mutilation, threats, forced nakedness, humiliation, and other crimes. The crimes documented took place in many different locations, including the Nova music festival, the Nahal Oz military base, along a road as terrified Israelis tried to flee, and in Gaza itself after Israelis were kidnapped. The report notes that Hamas terrorists carried out multiple, coordinated sexual attacks in a frenzied way, in many different locations, with no attempt to hide their actions.
The brazen nature of the attacks was a goal in itself, designed to sow terror. “It is important to note that one of the hallmarks of CRSV (conflict-related sexual violence) is the public nature of the sexual attack, which is purposefully done out in the open in front of spectators to instill yet more fear an terror.”
In most cases, the Israelis who were sexually attacked were murdered before, during, or immediately after their attack.
In most cases, the Israelis who were sexually attacked were murdered before, during, or immediately after their attack. Some witnesses were survivors of attacks; others heard or saw attacks on other people nearby. The report also cites evidence from 15 first responders who encountered the bodies of several dozen murdered women - often handcuffed to trees - who’d been grotesquely mutilated in sadistically sexual ways. “All of the first responders who were at the Nova festival site described the same scenes: Dozens of female bodies naked or partially naked from the waist down,” and all exhibiting evidence of extreme sexual mutilation.
The report also relies on Hamas’ own films that they uploaded to Telegram and other social media channels, depicting Hamas terrorists “desecrating the bodies of partially naked male hostages” and of female hostages as well, in some cases as crowds of Gazan civilians roared their approval and cheered as they watched.
Israeli authorities are still investigating the many sexual violence crimes committed by Hamas, yet many obstacles remain. The fact that nearly all victims of sexual assault were murdered, and the fact that overwhelmed first responders didn’t have time to take samples from the many crimes scenes on October 7, have slowed their investigations. “Classical doctrines (of crime fighting) have yet to develop the tools necessary to deal with the phenomena of mass atrocities,” the report concludes.
Instead, Dina Project lawyers urge investigators to view Hamas’ use of sexual violence not as individual acts, but as a tactic central their genocidal goals. Responsibility lies with “all terrorists who participated in the attacks and to all crimes committed during the course of the attack, including sexual violence.”
The report urges using two legal doctrines to prosecute Hamas: Joint Criminal Enterprise, under which members of criminal groups can be prosecuted for war crimes committed by some members of the group; and Derivative Loyalty, which holds that members of a dangerous organization assume liability for actions of their fellow members.
Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon, as part of a genocidal scheme and with the goal of terrorizing and dehumanizing Israeli society.
Hamas’ ideology “merges radical Islamist doctrine with elements of traditional European and Nazi antisemitism.” Hamas teaches that Jews are the enemy of Muslims, and that Israeli and Jewish civilians are legitimate targets for murder and violence. In preparation for the October 7 attack, Hamas distributed a book on Islamic theology to every terrorist: “This book clearly states that no difference should be made between men, women, elderly, or children: It is permitted to kill them all or to take them as live hostages.” The book also declared that civilians were legitimate targets for attack, and that stripping and molesting female soldiers was allowed under Islam. Each and every single Jew and Israeli was a target: Hamas’ rampage was the very definition of genocidal in intent.
Far from being unplanned and rare, Hamas’ sexual violence is core to its strategy of harming, demoralizing, and terrifying Jews. “Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon, as part of a genocidal scheme and with the goal of terrorizing and dehumanizing Israeli society,” the report explains. Every member of Hamas has pledged to support this ideology, and can and should be prosecuted as accessories to scores of cases of rape and other sexual violence. The report asserts that every Hamas member shares the culpability of the mass rapes and other sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
“(W)e assert that individuals who join an organization explicitly to commit genocide, terrorizing and dehumanizing others understand their actions and make a deliberate choice. This choice precludes them from later invoking lack of choice (due to a lack of specific knowledge) as a defense against criminal responsibility…. Perpetrators cannot choose, on the one hand, to join an unrestrained mob that operates as a singular entity and deliberately erases individual autonomy…and then later, on the other hand, seek to evade responsibility by arguing that they lacked specific awareness of particular crimes committed at a given time and place.”
The Dina Project recommends concrete changes to the way Hamas’ sexual violence is being prosecuted. Instead of treating each instance of violence as an individual case, lawyers can and should treat sexual violence as a core tenet of Hamas, and prosecute Hamas members - particularly elite Hamas leaders - accordingly.
Much of their recommendations is technical and legal, yet we all can appreciate the urgency in holding Hamas to account. Hamas carried out - and is still likely carrying out - horrific sexual violence in an effort to terrorize and defeat all Israelis and all Jews everywhere. We must insist on bringing justice. The Dina Project’s new report is an important step, creating a framework for lawyers to finally hold Hamas to account.
In the bible when I read the story about Dina being sexual violated and kidnapped her brothers Simon and Levi killed the male population I am not sure about the women population, because nobody stopped the incident from happening to Dina, in the end of Yacov's life he criticized his son's for doing something when their sister got violated and kidnapped, I don't get why Yacov was upset with his son's for protecting their sister's honor and punishing the criminals
I think what bothered Yakov was that only one person was actually guilty (the prince of Schem) but Simon and Levi killed all the men. It was excessive. In the case of Hamas, it is clear that this was not a case of a few soldiers getting over-excited but a group policy, the roots of which are actually in Islam's contempt of women.
The brothers of Dina Simon and Levi thought otherwise, that the whole town/ city was guilty of not stopping the crimes of kidnapping and sexual violation of their sister, that was how I understood the situation
This level of evil, and savagery most certainly should be gone after; but, it can never be made up to a person, a family, a community, or a nation.
All that can be taken away from what had happened are the lessons learned, and why no one was paying sufficient attention to the border that day.
This problem isn't going away. It requires people to accept that, and arm themselves to the teeth, and be relentlessly vigilant.
The Dina project is very important , but the Jewish women and girls from Israel should sue the Women's organization that did not speak up when it was Jews and Israeli women and girls that were sexual violated on October 7, 2023
violent regime that uses them as human shields and pawns in its genocidal agenda.
Just as we demand accountability for Hamas’ war crimes — including the grotesque and deliberate use of rape as a weapon — we must also demand truth. Because without it, there can be no justice. And without justice, there can be no peace.
We must hold fast to both: a fierce defense of Jewish life and dignity, and a commitment to the humanity of all people who long for a future without rockets, rape, indoctrination, and fear.
This is a time for courage, for clarity, and for leadership. We need our religious and moral leaders to rise to this moment — not with slogans, but with truth.
We must confront this truth with honesty: This is not just a political conflict. It is a genocidal movement masked in religious extremism. Naming that reality is not Islamophobia. It is moral clarity. And without that clarity, we will continue to see denial and deflection — even from so-called “human rights” voices who refuse to acknowledge the atrocities committed on October 7.
That said, let me be equally clear: Every innocent life lost is a tragedy. The suffering of Palestinian civilians must not be ignored, and they deserve to live free from terror, free from Hamas, and free from the endless cycles of war and exploitation. To stand against Hamas is not to stand against Palestinians — it is, in fact, to stand for their liberation from a violent regime that use
Reading through all you've written, I can readily agree with everything but one point: the so-called "Palestinian civilians" you mention are anything but civil; they overwhelmingly voted Hamas into power and gleefully cheer their most heinous acts.
Apologists claim these supposed "innocents" have no choice but to show support as the terrorists have abused them and would devise more schemes to make their lives increasingly miserable, but the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of those who are bred to be haters clearly become hateful, and harmful.
— is the belief that all Jews must be eliminated and Israel must cease to exist in order for their messianic prophecy to be fulfilled. This ideology doesn’t stop at Israel’s borders — it targets Jews everywhere.
This is not fringe. This is foundational to Hamas’ belief system. And its roots stretch back decades, including well-documented collaborations between early Islamist leaders and Nazi Germany, which helped spread and formalize modern antisemitic ideologies in the Middle East. Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, collaborated directly with Hitler, helping spread Nazi antisemitism into the Arab world. Hamas has not just inherited this ideology — it has refined and weaponized it.
As we confront the depth and horror of these acts, it’s more vital than ever for voices of moral clarity to rise up. Yes, there are rabbis who are courageously speaking out, who are naming the evil for what it is, and who are standing against antisemitism, sexual violence, and terror. Their leadership matters. But we need more. The scale of the violence, the genocidal intent behind it, and the ongoing denial by many in the media and international community demand a broader, unified religious response.
We need more of our rabbis and Jewish religious leaders to speak plainly: Hamas operates from a theological and ideological foundation that views Jews not only as enemies but as obstacles to their religious redemption. At the core of radical Islamist doctrine — as espoused by Hamas
This powerful and deeply important report makes it undeniable: Hamas' use of sexual violence on October 7 was not incidental or spontaneous — it was systematic, ideological, and designed to further a genocidal mission. These crimes are not simply acts of terror; they are part of a larger doctrine that calls for the elimination of Jews and the destruction of the State of Israel as a religious and political necessity. *It won't let me post my whole comment so this is (1 of 5)
"Hamas’ ideology “merges radical Islamist doctrine with elements of traditional European and Nazi antisemitism" And here I think is a very important error. Hamas ideology does not merge 'radical Islamist doctrine with elements of traditional European and Nazo antisemitism'. Rather ii is normative Islam as called for by all the early 20th century muslim thinkers, such as Sayyid Qutub, who formed the Muslim Brotherhood. All these thinkers asserted that this was the original Islam of Mohammed and should be taught to bring the conquests and greatness back that Islam once granered. And that is the point. That those who claim it's 'radical Islamist' are projecting their own desires to not recognize the theologic and political basis of Islam, of the Qu'ran, and the Jihad.
as is pointed out in the article, the majority of the victims of
sexual crimes were murdered, and thus cannot testify against
the terrorists.
testimony of eyewitness can be denied.
There must be some victims of the sexual crimes a live, but they can be to embarrassed to come forward, if these women and girls want justice done they must come forward to persecute these crimes
I understand and completely appreciate the need to document the sexual violence. Much credit goes to them for doing it. If a large percentage of people can deny the Holocaust, 10/7 atrocities can and will certainly be denied. However, prosecuting these animals is pointless. What would be the purpose? To jail them and then have them released in a future exchange. Every single Hamas connected individual needs to be eliminated. And that's where our time, thoughts, efforts, and money should be directed.
@Matt S, as to those animals who are already in custody, Israel is not going to execute them. They should be prosecuted, and not released in a future exchange. Prosecution will cause the creation of an undeniable public record as to what they did. As to the Hamas-connected individuals who are not incarcerated, yes, they should be eliminated.
Some animals are nice, while other animals are poisonous and dangerous creatures, the denial of the Holocaust went to court already and the person that proved the Holocaust actually happened a Jewish historian won the case, the problem is that Israel doesn't have the death penalty but once they made the exception for Adolf Eichmann( may his name be erased) a Nazi( may his name be erased) war criminal, Israel should reinstate the death penalty for Muslim terrorists they are also criminals since the Holocaust there wasn't so much atrocities against Jews, I am a child of a Holocaust Survivor( obm) from Auschwitz-Birneau and my mom( obm) and other Holocaust Survivors were eye witnesses to how hate happened during the Holocaust
Maybe you and the people who replied to you could stop calling these vile scum wannabees "animals"? Do you have such low damaging opinions of animals?
How can they(hamas members)possibly expect to do what they did,and then get away with it?
They expect to "get away with it" because they are confident that "the world" (e.g., the BBC) will support them REGARDLESS of the actual evidence.
Add to your example The NY Times and so many other "respected" leftist media sources with a subtle or clear antisemitic slant, and it becomes easy to understand why our world is called Olam Hasheker (world of lies).
You are absolutely right, also where were the women's organization when Jewish and Israeli women and girls were sexual violated, to me it is called anti Jews and anti Zionist( Israel) if this happened to non Jews they would of spoken up, so in my opinion nothing changed since the Holocaust, the world still has a problem concerning Jews and Israel, especially when Jews and Israel defends themselves
Actually, Hamas terrorists filmed everything they did they didn't hide their crimes like the Nazis( may their name be erased) there must be footage of the crimes they committed, and then they denied everything, after the Holocaust some Nazis( may their name be erased) ended up in Nuranburg Trials and others escaped to South America and the United States , never paying for their crimes, now Jews and Israel must find a way that these Muslim Arab terrorists should pay for their crimes
The same way the Nazis( may their name be erased) escaped going on trials for their war crimes