‘When it’s Israeli women or Jewish women, they don’t believe it,’ activist says of United Nations

"U.N. Women regularly issues statements condemning specific instances of violence and abuse of women worldwide. But it took this agency of the United Nations, which purports to advocate for gender equity and female empowerment, nearly 50 days to condemn Hamas terrorists for raping and sexually assaulting Israeli and other women, which video footage and witnesses documented on Oct. 7.

‘Me, too, unless you are a Jew!’ was among the rallying cries, as some 100 women protested on Monday morning outside the New York City headquarters of U.N. Women.

‘We came here to demand from them to speak up and to condemn the horrific acts that Israeli women, Muslim women, Jewish women, Thai women, American women, German women went through on Oct. 7 by Hamas terrorists,’ Shany Grubot-Lubaton, one of the protest organizers, told JNS. ‘It seems like they forgot that they’re fighting for all women,’ she said of the U.N. agency. ‘If they’re not fighting for all women, then they’re fighting for none.’

Almost immediately after it posted on Instagram—’We condemn the brutal attacks by Hamas on October 7 and continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages’—U.N. Women deleted it.

It replaced the post on Instagram and X with a broader statement: ‘We met with Israeli women’s organizations and heard about the work of the civil commission for crimes against women and children. We remain alarmed by gender-based violence reports on 7 Oct. and call for rigorous investigation, prioritizing the rights, needs and safety of those affected.’

The second post mentioned neither Hamas nor Jewish victims.

Those gathered on Monday were dressed in white with red paint symbolizing blood splattered near their groin and other areas. The protesters carried signs demanding ‘Believe all women’ and ‘Rape is rape.’

One sign—’Your silence is loud’—was directed at Sima Bahous, a Jordanian woman who serves as the executive director of U.N. Women...

Granot-Lubaton said a delegation of leaders from Israeli women’s rights organizations will visit the United Nations next week. A simultaneous demonstration in support of Israeli women is planned to take place outside the building.

She told JNS that the United Nations should condemn the sexual violence that occurred on Oct. 7 ‘What is so hard?’ she said. ‘They always say, ‘Believe all women,’ but then when it’s Israeli women or Jewish women, they don’t believe it.’"