Today’s suggested actions to support Israel in your local community:

• Urge your Members of Congress in the House to support the swift passage of aid to Israel, funding for NSGP, and assistance for Ukraine, by calling their offices and signing our action alert.. 
• Read this op-ed by urban warfare expert Major John Spencer on the legal implications of misuse of hospitals for terror purposes, and how the IDF has demonstrated compliance with international law when fighting in hospitals.
• Listen to this chilling testimony from Agam Goldstein of the horrors of sexual abuse in Hamas captivity, as told to her by a fellow hostage before she was released.
• Share this letter on social media sent by Jewish Federations and 15 other major Jewish organizations to members of the House in support of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism.
• Read and share the story of 39-year-old Shachar Zemach, a soccer fan, dedicated runner and lover of life from Kibbutz Be’eri. The son of Shlomit and Daniel, wife of Ofri and father of Ella and Netta, Shachar studied economics and politics at Ben Gurion University and worked as the CFO at the Be’eri print shop, just outside his home. He was a prominent peace activist who strove for coexistence. On the morning of October 7, he left his home and family to guard the Kibbutz dental clinic where victims were being treated. He was shot by a terrorist. His father said that Shachar, “was killed with an M16 [rifle] in his hand, but in his other hand there was always an olive branch.”

Issue:
Despite evidence of systematic brutal sexual violence and rape committed by Hamas terrorists on and after October 7, leading women’s rights organizations have remained silent or have issued muted reactions in the face of these horrors. Many others continue to deny the abundance of forensic and video evidence as well as testimonies provided by first responders, survivors of the October 7 massacres and other witnesses. Today the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel released a graphic report detailing evidence of systematic sexual and gender-based crimes at the Supernova Festival, in homes in southern Israel, on IDF bases and in Hamas captivity.

Background:
[Warning: graphic descriptions].

• According to the 39-page report, many of the rapes were carried out in a group and the attacks were often perpetrated in front of family members or friends, in order to increase pain, terror and humiliation. In most cases, the victims of the sexual violence – which included both men and women – were murdered.
• According to the report, “It appears that the perpetrators’ actions match patterns of wartime sexual violence documented in literature; practices that describe rape and gender-based violence often appear in combination with sadistic practices with demonstratively brutal characteristics.”
• The report explains that typically sexual violence is characterized by “delayed disclosure,” with most cases being reported sometimes months or even decades after the incident. It reaffirms that, “no survivor should feel obligated to ‘serve’ the world's demand for information.”
• The report features dozens of harrowing testimonies. Below is just a small sample of the evidence.
• Many of the bodies of victims were found shackled and bound to other victims. The genitals of both men and women were brutally mutilated. In some cases, bodies were booby-trapped.
• One survivor who walked around the site of the festival after the massacres described it as an “apocalypse of bodies, girls without clothes, some missing their upper, some their lower parts.”
• On Kibbutz Be’eri where 90 residents were murdered, ZAKA volunteers described in graphic detail the signs of sexual assault on women’s bodies that they witnessed upon entering homes of victims. Rescue workers and IDF soldiers who evacuated bodies in other Kibbutzim reported similar sites.
• Lieutenant Tamar Bar Shimon was on base when terrorists infiltrated. She was threatened with a weapon and demanded to remove her uniform.
• Chen and Agam Goldstein who were released from captivity recounted that they know of at least three cases of female hostages being sexually assaulted.
• Raz Cohen and Shoham Gueta survived the music festival and testified witnessing terrorists raping and stabbing a young woman. Cohen said that during the brutal rape, even after the victim was no longer moving, the terrorist continued raping her. Another witness testified that he saw between eight and ten terrorists gang raping a woman. “When they finished they were laughing and the last one shot her in the head.”
• The report concludes with an obligatory call to action: “When most of the victims of sexual assaults are murdered, we have a moral and humanitarian obligation to amplify their silent cry.”

Community Spotlight

Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley has been working with local elected officials since November to combat one-sided resolutions that single out Israel and call for an unconditional ceasefire. Federation leaders have met with and continue to maintain ongoing communication with the mayors and councils of cities where ceasefire resolutions have been proposed, explaining their position and the dangers of these inflammatory resolutions and their irrelevance to the agenda of a city council meeting. The Federation is monitoring the situation in troublesome cities and is ready to mobilize the community to participate in meetings if and when it will be necessary.

Submit a community initiative here that you would like to highlight for our system.

Additional Resources

Click here to access Jewish Federations’ toolkit on the War in Israel, which links to the Community Mobilization Resource Hub to help you speak up for Israel.

Click here for guidance on responding to anti-Israel resolutions proposed by city councils.  

The Community Mobilization Center is monitoring major developments in Israel and North America related to Israel’s war against Hamas. The Community Mobilization Center will rapidly disseminate resources to help mobilize and support our local communities as they build and sustain civic and political support for Israel in this conflict. The work of the Community Mobilization Center will continue as long as it takes Israel to eradicate the terrorist threat and restore security to the country.

The Community Mobilization Center is at your service. Click here to send us an email.

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