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Celebrities React to Hamas Sexual Violence: ‘Medieval Barbarism Unlike Anything in Modern History’
Debra Messing during the Will & Grace 25th Anniversary Celebration at The Paley Center for Media in New York NY on June 5, 2023. Photo: Usphotography/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Warning: This story contains graphic details about sexual violence, including rape and torture, carried out during Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre.
An event that took place at the United Nations this week about the sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated by Hamas terrorists during their deadly rampage across southern Israel on Oct. 7 has caught the attention of Jewish celebrities, who blasted those staying silent about the abuse that unfolded two months ago.
Actress and former Will & Grace star Debra Messing attended the UN event — titled “Hear Our Voices: Sexual and gender-based violence in the October 7th Hamas terror attack” — and said in a post on Instagram that the testimonies she heard about rape, mutilation, and other forms of sexual violence resembled accounts of “medieval barbarism unlike anything seen in modern history.”
“First responders attesting to the rape and subsequent mutilation of women and young girls. Survivors detailing women begging to be killed during their rape and torture. Forensic experts detailing the deliberate targeting of sex organs, shooting, mutilating, nails, and other means of torture including cutting off of breasts while the girls were being raped and still alive. There were gasps, and tears,” she wrote. “Powerful speeches demanding recognition and pursuit of justice by the UN Women, who have remained silent.”
United Nations Women — the UN agency for gender equality and women’s empowerment — released on Nov. 25 its first statement about the gender-based violence carried out on Oct. 7 — 50 days after they took place. A week later, on Dec. 1, the agency condemned for the first time ever the Hamas terrorist attacks. There have been calls to have UN Women disbanded for waiting so long to comment on the sexual violence, and on Sunday, Israeli actress Gal Gadot slammed the international community for staying quiet about the sexual abuse women experienced at the hands of Hamas.
Messing also shared on Instagram a clip of Iranian activist and content creator Mandana Dayani at the UN event discussing the Oct. 7 massacre by the Hamas terror group, whose main sponsor is Iran. She expressed disappointment in the “peers, friends, universities, and fellow leaders who still remain silent” about the sexual violence that women experienced. “You have made the deliberate choice to look the other way,” she said. “You saw the videos, the phones, many recorded and live-streamed by the terrorists themselves. You know exactly what happened to these girls and yet you turned away … When our women’s mouths were bound and gagged, you chose not to be their voice.”
Actress and writer Jenny Mollen Biggs, who is the wife of American Pie star Jason Biggs, also shared on Instagram a clip of Dayani’s speech at the UN event, calling it “just f—king brilliant.” Two days earlier, she shared on social media a testimony from a survivor of the Hamas attack on the Supernova music festival who witnessed the beating and raping of a fellow music festival attendee. Frustrated by the silence shown by feminists about such violence, Biggs wrote in the caption for the post, “Our daughters are being raped and shot in Israel, our daughters are being raped and shot in Sudan, our feminists are busy shopping for the holidays.”
In her own Instagram post, actress Mayim Bialik drew attention to a female-led demonstration that took place outside the UN event, where protesters demanded to know why the organization has remained silent about the sexual abuse inflicted on Israeli women. Demonstrators also used the hashtag “#MetooUNlessYouareaJew” to draw attention to their cause.
The former Big Bang Theory star shared a photo from the demonstration and wrote in the caption, “Note to the world: believe all women — even if they are Jews. Also, believe the autopsies showing grotesque sexual mutilation.”
“Finally, to the ‘anti-Israel’ protesters who literally marched at the UN as we ask for dignity for the women of the Oct. 7 massacre which used women’s bodies as war prizes: what exactly were you marching against in this particular case?” she added.
The post Celebrities React to Hamas Sexual Violence: ‘Medieval Barbarism Unlike Anything in Modern History’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.