I Believe Israeli Women is a global movement in solidarity with Israeli women, men and children and fighting the denial of and disinformation about the sexual violence of Oct 7.
ICJW representative Joan Lurie Goldberg reports on an event held on March 10, 2026, at the headquarters of the American Jewish Committee, during the UN CSW 70 event in New York.
The Hamas terrorists attacked Israel and raped and tortured women and men. BUT before survivors, first responders and forensic experts could testify to the atrocities that occurred, denial and disinformation were rampant. The world was silent and even denied these crimes. Many women’s organizations which fight against gender based violence were silent. The overall reaction to October 7 was that there were no Jewish victims – clearly a fantasy!
The program held on March 10, 2026 at the headquarters of the American Jewish Committee consisted of many experts who helped clarify what had really happened. Panelists all discussed horrendous material in a sensitive and clearly very skilled manner.
- The first panel, Selective Indignation: A Global Response was moderated by Lisa Smith, Chief Counsel for Family and Gender Violence at New York State Office of Court Administration, Office of Justice Initiatives.
Celine Berdat, French President and Founder of “We Are Not Weapons of War”, was the first speaker in the panel. She has a 20 year career working with women who have been assaulted. She herself is not Jewish but is shocked by how Jewish women are not heard or believed when they have been assaulted. She started to talk about these attacks and was horrified by the reaction: “Even if it would be true, the Jewish women deserve it”. WHAT HAS HAPPENED? – big question is how do we fix this so we can work together?
Vivian Tantelbaum is a member of the Belgian Senate since 2024. Prior to that she served in Parliament of the Brussels region from 2004 to 2024 working on many issues including gender equality and the right against racism and antisemitism. For her, 10/7 was a turning point; it took her six weeks to get her organization to put out a statement in which her language had been changed. She kept trying to keep a narrative going but she could not make herself understood – University professor and others kept saying (of victims) maybe she is not telling the truth! This was usually unheard of in her feminist organizations – witness testimony is ordinarily believed. She left her organization because of this arbitrary lack of belief when the victim is Jewish.
Paula Rodriguez is a Columbian lawyer and expert in conflict-related sexual violence. She also has an MSc in Gender, Peace and Security from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She spoke briefly of her work and concluded that she “could not believe that sexual violence testimony depends on a nation”.
Elaaheh Jamali – an Iranian living in exile for 20 years – talked about activism and the world’s silence as Israeli women were mutilated and worse. It seems that genocide and attacks against women have been normalized. At the UN women tried to push forward the testimonies of Jewish survivors but their evidence was ignored. She then spoke of how thankful Iranians are for the Israeli and American troops now fighting in Iran. She considers this a rescue led by Trump and hopes the Mullahs will be gone.
Keynote Address by Sarah Baruku of France, President and Founder of 125 et apres. Her talk emphasized “Me Too, Unless you are a Jew”. She talked about how Gazan women who talked about their suffering received sympathy and their stories were believed. But Jewish women in Israel who survived rape and beatings were not believed. She published an article on this in a French newspaper and was denounced on social media. Why, she asked, are Jewish women treated differently?
2. The second panel, Advocacy Into Action: Mobilizing for Justice was moderated by Laura Gross from the US, a founder of I Believe Israeli Women Global.
Meredith Jacobs, CEO of Jewish Women International and a Co-Founder of I Believe Israeli Women Global, was the first speaker. She declared that sexual violence should not be seen through a political lens. In 2024, she and two Board Members from JWI went to Israel. She is impressed by this event; many women who are not Jewish stood up for the Jewish victims. The work she is doing now is the hardest she has ever done and is thankful that she has the opportunity to do it.
Ayelet Razin Bet Or, an Israeli legal expert and advocate for survivors of Gender-Based violence, spoke of an “amazing achievement” – namely the I Believe Israeli Women group who has brought so many sisters together. She notes we are getting stronger and angrier. What are the future challenges for the organization? She fights the current propaganda environment – if it is from Israel, it is a lie! To do this she works at getting more and more women to tell their stories. This is hard but, by bringing the victims together to tell their stories, they can talk to each other and are able to fight better.
Ali Gostanian. Director of I Believe Israeli Women Global Movement was the final speaker. She thanked all the participants and summed up some of the issues.
Violence against the women attending the Nova Festival was shocking and the same atrocities were suffered by other women victims of Hamas. In hostile agencies, notably the UN, these women who survived have established with testimony that the violence was premeditated and many rape victims were identified. She hopes many more will come forward with their stories. However, to date, the UN has not agreed that sexual violence was used as a weapon of war. In US universities feminists are being trained to hate Israel!
To find out more about this project and to sign their Open Letter to the United Nations, visit their website: https://www.jwi.org/ibelieveisraeliwomen
