Prof. Halperin-Kaddari: Oct. 7 exposed failure to address sexual violence

Professor Ruth Halperin Kaddari, a law professor at Bar-Ilan University and a former vice chair of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, said that the October 7 Hamas attack marked a turning point in the international response to conflict-related sexual violence, exposing what she described as a profound failure of global institutions to act in real time.

Halperin Kaddari, who served 12 years on the UN committee known as CEDAW, said she expected immediate condemnation after reports of sexual violence emerged, in line with the longstanding international principle of “believe women.” Instead, she said UN Women did not publicly acknowledge reports of sexual violence until nearly two months after the attack, a delay she described as unprecedented.

In response, Halperin Kaddari joined legal experts and former senior Israeli officials to establish the Dinah Project, an initiative focused on recognition and accountability for conflict-related sexual violence. The team spent thousands of hours analyzing open source material, survivor testimony, intelligence information, and first responder documentation to construct what she described as a legally sound evidentiary framework.

According to Halperin Kaddari, the project identified at least 17 real-time eyewitnesses or ear witnesses to rape, gang rape, and sexual mutilation during the October 7 attack and in captivity. She said the absence of firsthand victim testimony is due to the fact that many victims were killed during or immediately after the assaults, while survivors remain deeply traumatized.

She pointed to findings by senior UN officials, including a March 2024 report by the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict, concluding there were reasonable grounds to believe rape and gang rape occurred at multiple locations. These findings led to Hamas being added to the UN secretary general’s blacklist of groups that use sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Halperin Kaddari said the project’s next goal is advancing accountability through established doctrines of joint criminal responsibility, arguing that perpetrators must not be allowed to evade justice due to evidentiary challenges in war zones.