The author of the op-ed “Sexual violence is used as a tool of war” assumes Nicholas Kristof’s claim that Hamas raped women on their October 7, 2023 breakout from Gaza actually happened: a claim which investigators including Max Blumenthal found long ago to be not only without foundation but used intentionally to generate genocidal Jewish vengeance. While I assume that the author Denise Handlarski was well-meaning in accusing both Israel and the Palestinians, as many feel compelled to do, equating them mischaracterizes both the power differential and the extent of criminality.
People would be outraged if the crimes of Jews in concentration camps were equated to crimes of their Nazi jailers, yet this is what the article is equating, because Gaza is an (illegal) Israeli open-air concentration camp with no exits. And while Jewish Israelis are trying to kill and destroy the lives of the maximum number of Palestinian men, women and children without regard to any laws or humanitarian obligations, Hamas (and Palestinians) clearly do their best to stay within the bounds international law whenever possible.
The October 7th breakout was to focus on the IDF military locations (bases and supporting kibbutzim); the music rave was placed near Gaza within 48 hours of the breakout. There were no rapes and only one Israeli child was killed by accident. While Israel’s actions against Palestinians living under its military occupation are criminal, Palestinians under occupation are legally allowed to use “all means possible” to attain their freedom: their violence is not “terrorism”.
While The Star presumably ran this op-ed with good intentions, the mischaracterizations of power and criminality do a grave disservice to Palestinians trying to find a just peace as well as those trying to understand this situation.