Media Contact:
Lilly Freemyer
hadassah@rational360.com
202-669-0998
NEW YORK, NY—Today, Rhoda Smolow, Immediate Past National President of Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, spoke at a Capitol Hill event alongside Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz; Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff; Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism; Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog; Rep. Lois Frankel; Rep. Kathy Manning; Rep. Susan Wild and Israeli activist Noa Tishby to raise awareness of the growing and irrefutable evidence that Hamas terrorists planned and committed sexual violence against women and girls as part of their October 7 attack on Israel.
“As global humanitarian leaders, we at Hadassah are shaken to the core by these acts of sexual violence and the fact that these crimes have been ‘justified,’ denied and even celebrated by some,” said Hadassah National President Carol Ann Schwartz, who took office on January 1.
“Rape should never be sanctioned as an act of war. Not anywhere. Not again. That is why I am bringing Hadassah’s passionate volunteers and leaders from across the world together to build on our existing work and to launch a global campaign to end the silence.”
During the Capital Hill program, Smolow, who represented Hadassah, spoke about her experience on the ground in Israel on October 7.
“I learned of women and girls who had been raped by Hamas terrorists, sometimes so violently that their legs and pelvic bones were broken, and of women who had been shot in the vagina and breasts. Doctors at Hadassah’s Bat Ami Center for Victims of Sexual Abuse in Jerusalem said that, in all their years of experience, they had never imagined or seen this kind of brutal sexual violence,” said Smolow. “When we denounce rape as a weapon of war, when we call these acts what they are – war crimes and crimes against humanity – we validate the evidence, build a case for justice and accountability and ensure that the victims of these atrocities are not erased.”
Hadassah is committed to ending the silence, holding Hamas accountable and showing the world that rape must never be used as a weapon of war. As part of Hadassah’s new #EndTheSilence campaign, the organization is sending grassroots petitions from around the globe to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and urging him to speak out about Hamas’ war crimes; to pursue an independent, trauma-informed and unbiased UN investigation and to ensure justice for the victims.
Hadassah has been speaking out and leading actions to raise awareness of sexual violence against women, including calling on international organizations to acknowledge and condemn Hamas’ war crimes and co-sponsoring events to raise awareness about the growing evidence of gender-based violence.