On October 7, 2023, a date that will remain etched in infamy, Hamas unleashed an unspeakable wave of terror on Israeli civilians. Among the most harrowing atrocities committed, the abduction and brutalization of women stand out as particularly chilling violations of humanity. Yet, in the wake of these horrors, the global response was not an outcry of revulsion or solidarity, but an eerie, disquieting silence. Worse, this silence was accompanied by denial, obfuscation, and, in some quarters, grotesque insinuations that such violence was somehow deserved.

This is more than a failure of empathy or attention. It is something far more insidious: the active erasure of these women’s suffering, a refusal to see their humanity and an unspoken encouragement for such atrocities to happen again. History has shown us time and again that silence is never neutral. It emboldens oppressors, validates their deeds, and lays the groundwork for future barbarity.

The violence endured by Israeli women at the hands of Hamas is not speculative. It has been documented, recounted, and reported with chilling clarity. Yet rather than sparking universal condemnation, these accounts have been met with skepticism, minimization, or outright dismissal. Such denial does more than obscure the truth—it actively enables further atrocities. By casting doubt on these women’s stories, the global community sends a signal to their tormentors: such acts will not only be overlooked but may even be excused if cloaked in the rhetoric of political struggle.

This denial robs these women of their dignity and agency. It transforms them from individuals with lives, histories, and loved ones into faceless symbols in narratives crafted by others. This silence is not just passivity; it is complicity. It is a tacit approval of violence, offered when the victims do not align with preferred narratives.

What makes this silence all the more damning is the absence of feminist voices that would typically rally against such grotesque acts. Feminism, we are told, stands for all women, everywhere, without exception. Yet when Israeli women are the victims, this universality vanishes. Where are the marches, the hashtags, the impassioned speeches demanding justice?

This is not just hypocrisy; it is a profound betrayal of feminist ideals. It reveals a disturbing conditionality in the solidarity extended to women—a caveat that their suffering only matters if it aligns with specific ideological or political sympathies. Such selectivity erodes the very foundation of the fight against gender-based violence and emboldens those who wield women’s bodies as tools of war.

Perhaps the most insidious aspect of this silence is its normalization of violence against Israeli women as politically acceptable, even inevitable. Feminicide, when committed against these women, is not denounced as a crime but rationalized as a regrettable byproduct of resistance.

This erasure does not just ignore their pain but justifies it, reducing them to pawns in a cynical game of ideology and propaganda.

This rebranding of violence is deliberate, orchestrated by those who seek to delegitimize Israel by dehumanizing its people. But what does this say about our global commitment to ending violence against women? What precedent does it set for women in other conflict zones when the world condones their suffering if the political context demands it?

Silence is not merely complicity; it becomes an invitation. By failing to hold perpetrators accountable, the global community effectively greenlights future violence. The message is clear: women’s bodies can remain battlegrounds, their pain ignored, their stories dismissed.

This is not just a betrayal of the women who suffered on October 7—it is a betrayal of all women who look to the world for justice and protection. Every instance of unchallenged violence increases the likelihood of its repetition.

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, held every year on November 25, cannot be reduced to empty platitudes and hashtags. It must serve as a beacon of justice for all women, regardless of their nationality, politics, or the identity of their oppressors. To exclude Israeli women from this solidarity is not only to fail them but to fail every woman whose suffering might one day be rationalized or erased.

We must demand justice for these women—not because they are Israeli, but because they are women. Their humanity is not conditional. Their pain is not a footnote. If we are serious about eliminating violence against women, we must first confront our own prejudices and hypocrisies. Anything less is a failure—not only of morality but of our collective humanity.

History has little patience for those who equivocate in the face of evil. To remain silent is to side with the oppressor. To deny is to pave the way for future atrocities. To justify is to become complicit in the erasure of humanity itself. Let us, for once, rise above political pettiness and stand for something unassailable: the dignity, rights, and lives of women everywhere.