It needs to be said, but gently: alongside the women who will never be able to speak again, some women survived Hamas's gender-based violence on October 7. "I can say that the care centers of the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry have received several initial calls from survivors who have been sexually assaulted," reveals Mali Orgad, director of the Center for the Treatment and Protection of Trauma and Crisis at the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry.
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"We were approached by young women who were attacked at the Nova festival," Orgad says. "I can't elaborate beyond that, because they have not yet arrived to receive treatment, they have not yet disclosed the story of their abuse; they were just trying to find out details about the center and the kind of treatments we provide and said they would get back to us. We believe that they will come and others will come too. But yes, there were incidents of sexual assault on October 7, and there are survivors."
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Protestors in Paris demonstrate against silencing sex crimes on October 7
(Photo: Dimitar Dilkoff)
"We know about some of the women, and we want to reach others who haven't contacted us yet, because they still need to process this harsh and major event," Orgad added. "I won't say more than that, because I want them to feel safe to come. We are aware and know that it takes time for victims to seek treatment, and even more so in this case. They should come when they are ready to work on the most terrible thing that happened to them. It is clear to us that as soon as they know what services are available for them in the centers - they will arrive."
Sensitivity and patience are required
The current era which is filled with media, social networks, opinions, and information (which also includes the war on global public opinion) makes us want to understand better the inconceivable stories; we want to go into the details, the numbers, the descriptions, wising to cry out our collective pain, which we experienced on that black Saturday.
But sexual assault is different: it comes up in due time, sometimes after years, sometimes never. The whole world lends a listening ear to the stories of sexual violence that took place during the massacre, but in this case, extreme sensitivity is required. Sensitivity, and patience.
This is well demonstrated by Naama Tamari Lapid, director of the multidisciplinary center for the treatment of sexual assault victims of the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry in Haifa, who worked in collaboration with a treatment center in Kosovo. "As part of the war in Kosovo, which ended in 1999, brutal and shocking sexual assaults were committed on girls and women, and they are treating the victims 20 years later," she says.
"They treat some 20,000 victims, and a professional relationship was created between us. They wanted to learn from us how to treat sexual injuries in the context of a war-torn country, which suffers battle shock trauma, and PTSD. A year and a half ago, in our joint work, I told them that our wars did not involve sexual assaults (i.e., in a war zone. There is however documentation of prisoners of the Yom Kippur War who were sexually assaulted in captivity)."
"They tried to understand what the appropriate way was to treat these sexually assaulted victims during a war, although they are treating their victims more than 20 years later. So, the public discussion should be very patient, and very quiet; we can't expect the victims to come here and now and fast just because we need to reassure ourselves. We must bear in mind that there are survivors and that we will take care of them. Look how many years it took in Kosovo."
Do you think the same will happen here?
"Well, we are a different people, a different culture, I wish it would take less time, but yes, I think we have a long way ahead to deal with this. I can say that the Nova Music Festival was an exceptional event like no other. When we try to learn what happened, externally - it's a one-time event, but it's also an ongoing event, because the war is not over. So, for someone who was sexually assaulted in the event, it's not over."
"We also have to bear in mind that these attacks happened outdoors, in public. There were people present; the attackers were there and there were also people running around trying to escape and hide, which is also a factor. However, it is not clear yet who saw what, or who heard, there is a lot of vagueness and confusion. This has never happened in Israel before, but it did happen in wars worldwide, where the gender-based attack became a weapon of war, attempting to harm the significance, identity, and spirit of an entire people, of all of us. It is not just a forceful act of control; it is an act that is aimed to destroy."
"The war is a huge trigger"
Tamari Lapid, who, as mentioned, runs the care center in Haifa, talks about another consequence of Hamas' gender-based violence. "Since October 7, the center has been in turmoil: We are having desperate calls from victims who have experienced sexual assaults in the past, for whom the October 7 event was a trigger, and they are seeking treatment now. Some of them waited or did not sign up for treatment, but now there is a surge of desperate requests. There is a desperate need for therapy. The war is a huge trigger and caused a major upheaval."
And is it unique to this war?
"At this magnitude, yes. Beforehand there were military operations, but they didn't affect us as much. It's also due to the public discourse that was created. I think it's good to talk about it and it's good to say that this thing happened, but we also must be careful in the way we talk about it in public and society. It's a trigger; when a victim hears a conversation about it, she may feel empowered enough to come forward. But in most cases, such a conversation might prompt unbearable things and will result in severe distress. It is true that the conversation raises awareness and encourages women to come forward, but it has to be done very carefully, very balanced so that it doesn't become a trigger."