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Sheryl Sandberg joins Jewish women in calling out lack of concern about sexual assault of Israelis
(JTA) — In a world divided over the Israel-Hamas war, Sheryl Sandberg — the former Meta COO and author of “Lean In,” the bestselling book about women’s equity in the workforce — offered up an idea that she thought could bring everyone together.
“No matter which marches you are attending — or if you are attending none at all; no matter which flag you are flying — or if you are flying none at all; no matter what religion you practice — or if you practice none at all, there is one opinion that everyone can agree on: Rape should never be used as an act of war,” she wrote on Monday in a graphic and emotional op-ed for CNN. Sandberg posted a video to Instagram on Monday with a similar message.
That Sandberg felt the need to make the argument reflects the simmering resentment felt by many Israeli and Jewish advocates over widespread skepticism or even rejection of claims that Hamas terrorists raped Israeli women during their assault on Israel on Oct. 7. The response she got on social media — including on the platforms she helped create — underscored their anxiety.
“[A]nd so where’s the evidence?” reads the most-liked reply on Instagram which, alongside Facebook, is part of Meta. (Sandberg left the company last year after 14 years.)
Whether women were raped during the Hamas assault has been debated since the attack occurred, when video emerged of Hamas terrorists bundling an Israeli woman with what appeared to be blood on her pants into a vehicle in Gaza. Since then, Israeli police, military investigators and emergency responders have gathered testimony from people who witnessed sexual assault on Oct. 7 and documented evidence of assaults on the bodies of some who died.
Israeli police said they have “multiple witnesses for several cases” of sexual abuse, but did not disclose the number of witness testimonies or active sexual assault cases being investigated, the Times of Israel reported. Police also have video evidence, testimony from interrogations, and photographs of victims’ bodies that suggest sexual assault took place on Oct. 7, according to the report.
Yet six years after the #MeToo movement aimed to change the global conversation about believing women, some say the silence — or worse, open disbelief — about what happened to Israeli women suggests that progress has been uneven.
“It was not called out to the extent it should have been,” Sheila Katz, CEO of the National Council for Jewish Women, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “And organizations that have long spoken out against sexual assault and against war crimes seem to have been comfortable being silent as this happened to Israeli women.”
The Me Too International movement in its initial statement on the war on Nov. 13 said that the organization “recognizes that sexual violence often functions as a weapon of war and imperialism” and called for a ceasefire in Gaza, without mentioning the sexual violence that had occurred in Israel. A clarifying statement sent out two days later specifically mentioned the sexual violence experienced by Israeli women in October.
“We received some feedback from survivors asking for clarity about our statement,” the updated MeToo statement said. “We stand unequivocally with ALL survivors of sexual violence in this moment, including Israeli women who have given horrific accounts of gender-based violence in the last month.”
Some are reserving particular outrage for UN Women, the United Nations’ women’s organization that has issued multiple statements and reports about the state of Palestinian women and children in Gaza since Oct. 7, but has not issued any reports about sexual violence against Israeli women during that time.
“In their silence, these organizations have rendered themselves irrelevant,” Rotem Izak, an Israeli journalist at Yediot Ahronot and Ynet, wrote in an essay condemning UN Women for staying silent on sexual violence perpetrated against Israelis.
“Not because they shouted the cry of the Gazan women who pay with their bodies and lives for the deeds of Hamas. This is a fact; a painful fact,” Izak said. “However, ignoring the crimes of October 7 that led to this terrible war is an additional form of violence.”
Late last month, NCJW and more than 140 other women’s groups also called on UN Women to condemn the Hamas attack and “do everything in their power to expose and recognize these atrocious and horrific acts of violence against women and girls and to bring the release of all hostages immediately.”
Katz said it had been painful just to make the ask.
“We shouldn’t have to convince people who claim to be our friends and allies that raping Israelis is wrong,” she added. “Using rape as a tool of war is something that we should all agree is bad. The end, full stop. The fact that the United Nations and UN Women haven’t been able to say that is egregious.”
Entrepreneurs Danielle Ofek and Nataly Livski launched a petition last week that has so far collected a quarter-million signatures criticizing UN Women. Called “#MeToo_UNless_UR_A_Jew,” the campaign seeks to provide a voice for the women still held hostage or missing in Gaza. The associated hashtag has also trended on X, formerly known as Twitter.
While the UN group has not addressed the rape allegations, others have gone further and openly cast doubt on them. In Canada, a letter calling on a political leaders to stop broadcasting “the repeated and unverified accusation that Palestinians were guilty of sexual violence” drew thousands of signatories. One of them was the head of a campus sexual assault center who was subsequently fired.
Sandberg, who is Jewish and had previously expressed pain over Oct. 7 and its aftermath, said her decision to make the video statement on Instagram was fueled by understanding just how widespread such dismissal had become.
“We have come so far in believing survivors of rape and assault in so many situations, yet this time, many are ignoring the stories that these bodies tell us about how these women spent the last moments of their lives,” Sandberg wrote in the CNN op-ed. “Not loudly condemning the rapes of October 7 — or any rapes — is a massive step backward for the women — and men — of the world. The ground gained was hard-fought and must not be lost.”
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The post Sheryl Sandberg joins Jewish women in calling out lack of concern about sexual assault of Israelis appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Pakistani Textbooks Promote Antisemitism, Distort History, Justify Violence, New Study Finds
Sinain Bibi reads at a makeshift school in a village in Swat district in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Oct. 24, 2022. Photo: Thomson Reuters Foundation/Imran Mukhtar
Pakistani textbooks depict Jews and Israel through deep-rooted antisemitic stereotypes, promoting intolerance, distorting historical facts, and reinforcing prejudice among young readers, according to a new study released on Monday.
The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), a nonprofit organization that analyzes schoolbooks and curricula around the world, examined over 80 government-approved Pakistani textbooks in subjects ranging from Islamic education and history to social sciences, English, and Urdu as part of a national curriculum assessment.
The group’s newly released study reveals persistent antisemitism in Pakistani textbooks, with hostile portrayals of Jews in Islamic education and a complete absence of Judaism in comparative religion sections.
In several textbooks, Jews are repeatedly portrayed using long-standing antisemitic stereotypes, consistently depicted as “inherently treacherous and disloyal,” the study found.
For example, a 6th-grade textbook portrays Jewish tribes in Medina as conspiring against the Prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam, on multiple occasions.
Meanwhile, a 5th-grade textbook repeats the antisemitic stereotype that Jews “caused Prophet Isa [Jesus] and his mother to suffer,” claiming they plotted against him to protect their authority.
According to the study, this portrayal reflects medieval antisemitic tropes that blame Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus.
“These narratives frame Judaism as inherently treacherous and promote intolerance,” the report explained.
IMPACT-se also pointed out that the Holocaust is completely omitted from school curricula in Pakistan, with some textbooks even praising Adolf Hitler for restoring German pride while ignoring the atrocities committed by the Nazis.
“Given Pakistan’s prominent regional role, its nuclear status, and large percentage of young people, this curriculum has far-reaching consequences,” IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff said in a statement.
“What is taught in classrooms today will define Pakistan’s future global outlook, including its relationship with Israel and the Jewish people,” he continued.
In more recent history, the study found that Pakistani textbooks portray Israel as an aggressor solely responsible for the war in Gaza, while encouraging support for Muslim nations that seek to destroy the Jewish state.
For example, a 12th-grade textbook blames Israel for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, while making no mention of Hamas’s role in sparking the current war with its invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The textbook “frames Israel as the sole aggressor and the source of the humanitarian catastrophe with no mention of the broader conflict,” the study explained.
“Israel is portrayed as an adversary and is shockingly handed exclusive blame for the current war in Gaza,” it continued.
IMPACT-se also pointed out that several Islamic education textbooks portray jihad as a physical or armed struggle, reinforcing the idea that violent resistance is justified in the face of perceived injustice.
For instance, a 9th-grade Islamic education textbook depicts jihad as a moral duty to protect the oppressed, portraying armed action as a religious obligation with a “broader and noble purpose.”
According to IMPACT-se, this portrayal is used to justify unlimited violence under the guise of moral duty.
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US Justice Department Secures Conviction of Ohio Man Who Mauled Jewish Students
Timur Mamatov, 20. Photo: Screenshot.
US federal law enforcement officials on Friday secured a guilty plea from a man who assaulted two Jewish students at The Ohio State University (OSU) in November 2023, amid an explosion of antisemitism precipitated by the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
As previously reported by the Algemeiner, five Jewish students returning home from an off-campus event were brutally assaulted by two men who had detained and interrogated them to determine if they were Jewish, according to a civil rights complaint filed against OSU. Finding their answer, the two men allegedly shouted “Free Palestine!” and slugged one Jewish student each, breaking one’s jaw and the other’s nose and leaving one of them bleeding effusively. The complaint noted that the OSU Medical Center later denied one of the injured students more than one visitor and prohibited the other a seat in the waiting room, forcing them to stand “outside in the freezing cold for over five hours.”
One of the perpetrators was identified as Tipp City resident Timur Mamatov, now 20 years of age, with the help of the FBI Cincinnati Field Office, the US Department of Justice said in a press release on Friday. He was charged with and later admitted to violating the Hate Crimes Prevention Act and could spend as much as a decade in prison, pending sentencing.
“Mamatov admitted in court today that he assaulted victims because they were Jewish,” US attorney for the Ohio southern district Dominick S. Gerace II said in a statement. “No American should fear being violently attacked based on their religious beliefs. This office, along with our law enforcement partners, will aggressively pursue violence motivated by hate.”
Jose A. Perez, FBI criminal investigative division assistant director, added, “These college students were targeted by Mr. Mamatov simply because they were Jewish. Hate crimes not only impact the victims but have devastating impact on our entire community.”
Meanwhile, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division Harmeet K. Dhillon said, “Violence against people of faith is illegal and unacceptable.”
Just days before Mamatov’s guilty plea, the Justice Department announced the sentencing of a man who fired a pump-action shotgun outside the Temple Israel synagogue in Albany, New York to express his anti-Israel views and intimidate Jewish community members.
The perpetrator, 29-year-old Mufid Fawaz Alkhader, committed the offense on Dec. 7, 2023, exactly two months after Oct. 7, amid preparations for the observance of Hanukkah. According to the Justice Department, he commuted there via Uber from his residence in Schenectady, a city of the Capital Region that once possessed a thriving manufacturing sector and large middle class. Positioning himself in the front entrance, Alkhader discharged his firearm, purchased illegally, twice “into the air” as he bellowed “Free Palestine.”
His gun jammed on the third attempt, after which he turned his frustration on an Israeli flag pitched in front of the institution, the Justice Department said in a press release announcing the sentencing last week. Local law enforcement later apprehended Alkhader, but the security incident he precipitated frightened the congregation, causing it to “cancel a planned concert and candle lighting ceremony to celebrate Hanukkah that evening.”
Alkhader ultimately faced several criminal charges — for purchasing an illegal firearm, violating the religious rights of Temple Israel’s worshippers, and wielding a weapon while committing a violent crime. He will serve ten years in lockup and five years of supervised release.
“This shooting, outside of a synagogue on the eve of a Hanukkah celebration, was unfortunately emblematic of the antisemitic violence, rhetoric, and practices that have swept this country over the last few years,” acting US attorney John Sarcone for the Northern District of New York said in a statement. “This year, the Justice Department has emphatically said — through its words and actions — no more. My office, with our law enforcement partners, will do everything within our powers to make sure everyone in the Northern District of New York can exercise their right to practice their religion without fear and violence and hatred.”
Alkhader’s assault on Temple Israel occurred during an unrelenting wave of over 10,000 antisemitic incidents that hit the American Jewish community in the first year after Oct. 7. According to a 2024 report published by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Center on Extremism on the first anniversary of Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel, antisemitic incidents in the US increased 200 percent. Thirty percent of the incidents recorded took place on college campuses and another 12 percent happened during anti-Israel protests. Another 20 percent targeted Jewish institutions, including nonprofit organizations and houses of worship. Of these, 50 percent were bomb threats.
The hatred has carried into 2025.
In June, a gunman murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, while they exited an event at the Capital Jewish Museum hosted by a major Jewish organization. The suspect charged for the double murder, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, yelled “Free Palestine” while being arrested by police after the shooting, according to video of the incident. The FBI affidavit supporting the criminal charges against Rodriguez stated that he told law enforcement he “did it for Gaza.”
Less than two weeks later, a man firebombed a crowd of people who were participating in a demonstration to raise awareness of the Israeli hostages who remain imprisoned by Hamas in Gaza. A victim of the attack, Karen Diamond, 82, later died, having sustained severe, fatal injuries.
Another antisemitic incident motivated by anti-Zionism occurred in San Francisco, where an assailant identified by law enforcement as Juan Diaz-Rivas and others allegedly beat up a Jewish victim in the middle of the night. Diaz-Rivas and his friends approached the victim while shouting “F—k the Jews, Free Palestine,” according to local prosecutors.
According to the latest data released by the FBI earlier this month, antisemitic hate crimes in the US have been tallying to break all previous statistical records. In 2024, even as hate crimes decreased overall, those perpetrated against Jews increased by 5.8 percent in 2024 to 1,938, the largest total recorded in over 30 years of the FBI’s counting them. Jewish American groups have noted that this surge, which included 178 assaults, is being experienced by a demographic group which constitutes just 2 percent of the US population.
A striking 69 percent of all religion-based hate crimes that were reported to the FBI in 2024 targeted Jews, with 2,041 out of 2,942 total such incidents being antisemitic in nature. Muslims were targeted the next highest amount as the victims of 256 offenses, or about 9 percent of the total.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Trump Says Hamas Must Be ‘Confronted and Destroyed’ to Secure Release of Remaining Hostages in Gaza
US President Donald Trump speaks at a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (not pictured), at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, June 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
US President Donald Trump on Monday called for the outright defeat of Hamas, posting on social media that the only path to the safe return of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza is through the Palestinian terrorist group’s destruction.
“We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” Trump said on Truth Social.
His remark came as Israel continued to wage its military campaign in Gaza to free the hostages and dismantle Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, military and governing capabilities in the enclave following the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel, where Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages.
Nearly two years later, 50 hostages still remain in Gaza, including 20 believed to still be alive.
“Remember, I was the one who negotiated and got hundreds of hostages freed and released into Israel (and America!),” Trump added on Truth Social.
Israel has said it will ramp up military pressure on Hamas by seizing control of Gaza City, a major hub for the terrorist group, while simultaneously pursuing negotiations for a potential ceasefire and hostage-release deal. Hamas has reportedly accepted the latest proposal for a 60-day ceasefire with Israel that includes the return of half the hostages the terrorist group holds in Gaza and Israel’s release of some Palestinian prisoners.
Many families of current and former Israeli hostages have argued against escalating operations on Hamas, expressing fear that such a move could lead the terrorist group to execute their loved ones. Others have argued that military pressure is the best way to force Hamas to release hostages as part of a ceasefire on more favorable terms for Israel.
On Monday, Trump also touted his decision to authorize the US military to bomb Iranian nuclear sites in June, an act which was intended to prevent the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism from building nuclear weapons.
“I was the one who ended 6 wars, in just 6 months. I was the one who OBLITERATED Iran’s Nuclear facilities. Play to WIN, or don’t play at all! Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT,” he wrote.