Abuse and denial: Sandberg screams at world’s silence

Facebook’s former chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, says she was determined to make it clear that “rape isn’t resistance” in her documentary Screams Before Silence.

It’s the one thing Sandberg, who made the film focusing on the mass sexual violence perpetrated in the south of Israel by Hamas on 7 October, wants people to take home from watching it.

“This is a film that shouldn’t have needed to be made, because 7 October should never have happened,” said Sandberg in a webinar hosted by the United States Union of Reform Judaism about the film.

“Simultaneously, the denialism that happened on 8 October and the days that followed really shouldn’t have happened,” Sandberg said. “I was shocked by what happened on 7 October, but was even more shocked by what happened afterwards and the world’s reaction. This film is us as a community standing in solidarity for what we know to be true, which is that we should never tolerate sexual violence as part of any situation – in wartime or peacetime – anywhere in the world.”

Sandberg said the idea behind the documentary was that even though people may have seen reports about the sexual violence committed by Hamas on 7 October, it would give them a chance to hear and experience the devastation that Hamas caused that day. It was critical, she said, because “sadly, most of the victims of these crimes have died, most of the victims of these crimes aren’t with us. Our goal was to give the first-hand witnesses, the eyewitnesses, a chance to tell their story.” She included the incredibly brave Amit Soussana, who is to date the only survivor who was sexually assaulted and has spoken out about the sexual abuse.

Sandberg said the film was merely a starting point in the process of bearing witness to the atrocities. “If we can see the denial of these atrocities now, can you imagine what it will be in 80 years, in 100 years’ time? Can you see how important this moment is, not just for the survival of the Jewish people, but for the survival of democracy? People seeing the devastation shows the world what we’re up against. Right now, the world thinks this is Israel’s fight and a Jewish fight, but it’s a fight for democracy around the world.

“We know that the hostages being held in Gaza are facing sexual violence. Silence on this issue isn’t acceptable. Sexual violence violates a nation. There’s something so primal about the violation sexually of women. It terrorises nations. It breaks communities apart. When people are left alive, they’re pregnant, sometimes their husbands walk away from them, destroying communities. But what’s worse is that it’s free. You don’t have to buy a rocket, you don’t have to buy a missile. You don’t have to buy a gun. This is a free weapon, and it’s happening right now to our hostages in Gaza.”

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the founder and president of Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center, said in a SA Jewish Report webinar on Sunday, 7 July, “Rape as a weapon of war is something you find in every armed conflict. You’ll find it when they took over villages in Iraq and Syria, and you’ll find it in the Ukraine and Russia war.

“But there was nothing like 7 October, because they didn’t just rape the women, they nailed them to trees and raped them, they butchered them while they were raping them, they beheaded them after they raped them, and then they burned their bodies. This wasn’t just to humiliate or to show that you are an enemy, this was abuse that we have never seen before.”

As a self-proclaimed progressive feminist herself, Sandberg is extremely disappointed in the feminist movement since 7 October. “The movement that taught us that we believe women, the movement that taught us that we need to pay attention to micro biases. I believe the same movement needs to look at this and say screaming ‘From the river to the sea’ and advocating for genocide of the Jewish people is unacceptable.”

Koleinu SA, a non-profit group that assists victims of abuse, has been faced with a similar situation of South African feminist organisations not wanting to speak out against the sexual violence committed by Hamas on 7 October. Co-founders Rozanne Sack and Wendy Hendler said on the SA Jewish Report webinar, “Women’s organisations in South Africa have been shockingly silent, horrendously and unacceptably and just heartbreakingly silent.

“How dare organisations that claim to stand up for women’s rights keep silent! How dare they justify it! How dare they not condemn it!” said Sack.

“We aren’t interested in your politics and what countries you like or dislike. We’re interested in the facts. We want to hear that rape, sexual torture, and violation is unacceptable in any context, no matter what.”

Sandberg said she found it most hurtful when movements which boast progressive values ask where the victims of these crimes are, and why they aren’t speaking out. Then, they claim these atrocities never happened because no victims are talking about it. It’s because “the victims are dead. Hamas killed 1 200 people. Almost all the victims of 7 October have died or are in captivity.”

She believes the reason feminist organisations and governments have been silent about the sexual violence is because of “antisemitism, pure and simple”.

“This film gives people the best chance we can give to bear witness themselves. The silence of the world is truly deafening. Some things I know are complicated, but it shouldn’t be so complicated to condemn sexual violence wherever and whenever it takes place. The truth is that Hamas used rape, assault, and mutilation in a brutal rampage of sexual violence.”