Former Miss World Linor Abargil on Monday delivered a stirring speech at the UN, condemning women’s organizations’ silence on the sexual violence of Hamas terrorists against Israeli women during the October 7 massacre.
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"My name is Linor Abargil, and I am a rape survivor," said Abargil, who herself suffered a horrific rape before being crowned Miss World 1998. I was only 18 at the time. It's been 25 years. Since October 7, I've been hearing the demons in my head, the terrible videos, bringing everything back. I feel their pain, their lives that were taken.
"I remember the days I spoke up in public about my personal experience 25 years ago. I remember the warm embrace of the international women's organizations. I felt I had support, that someone believed me, that someone listened to me. Did these organizations demand any proof then? Did they question my version? Did they ask to conduct a comprehensive investigation before jumping to conclusions? No!
"How convenient it was at that time for these organizations to use my name, my fame, to invite me to their conferences, that are in a world of their own. To take a photo as the woman who became for them a symbol. How ashamed I feel that I was nothing but an extra in their production.
"Why? Because today in these conferences, they don't want to present the blood stains on the pants, the desecrated bodies of my sisters, the blood-thirsty Hamas terrorists even documented their war crimes, and still, most women's organizations are silent.
"The truth will be revealed, we will not forget them and we will ensure that the world will not forget them. We will be the voice taken from them."