This isn't the first time Anila Ali, a Muslim-American of Pakistani heritage who works to promote the rights of women in conflict zones around the world, has come to Israel. But this visit is different. The sexual assaults carried out by Hamas terrorists and Gaza Strip residents on Israeli women touched her personally. "How can one not cry over the girls who were raped by the terrorists?" She's not just horrified with the crimes themselves; she's shocked by the global silence over the sexual violence. Even international movements and organizations that champion the protection of women rights chose this time to equivocate. Only at the end of last week did UN Women explicitly condemn what had happened.
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"It's sad that the world avoided acknowledging that women were raped by Hamas," Ali says in an interview with Israel Hayom. "And why? Because they're Israelis. We heard what Hamas did, we saw the pictures of girls being taken to Gaza, how they dragged one of the young women away, and to think about what they did to her and to others…the world demonizes Israel. I won't accept women's rights activists standing on the sidelines when it happens to Israel. It makes me want to fight for the truth even more; like I supported women in Afghanistan who were harmed by the Taliban."
Without equivocating, she answers all the skeptics. "Because the victims are Jewish women, you're selective? You can't choose victims and decide that you only support the rights of women who aren't Israelis. Even if you don't agree politically with everything that's happening here, you must stand up for the truth. The world needs to wake up from its hypocrisy. And to the women held captive in Gaza, I say – don't be afraid, you will be heroines when you return."
Ali arrived in Israel with a delegation of Muslim activists from the organization AMMWEC (American Muslim & Multifaith Women's Empowerment Council), which she heads, She is angry at Hamas and terrorist organizations that "stole Islam from us, took our religion and use it to create terror and to divide us. They caused Islamophobia. It was the same on 9/11. Hamas, the Taliban, ISIS – they're all the same, how they made our lives miserable."
"Enough with the sanctification of death"
Ali (56), a mother of two, immigrated from Pakistan to the United States three decades ago. On one of her trips to Israel, she visited Ramallah and Jenin and heard how young men spoke about jihad (holy war) and intifada (uprising) for the sake of Islam. Regarding the Palestinian mothers, she says: "You're giving the children money to do terror. If you say that you're oppressed, what are you doing to get out of it? Think about how you'll educate your children. Give your children balls to play with and not bombs. Allah granted precious life to live, you need to stop sanctifying death. This is your obligation to strengthen the children, to lead them forward, and to look to the future, to your neighbors, to aspire for peace. Do you want to raise another generation of women? Killing can't serve as a model for children anymore. As a mother and a woman, I think that we need to educate them to accept their neighbors, and we've failed if we don't succeed in doing so."
Video: Drone footage show destruction, abandoned cars after rave party attack in Israel / Credit: Reuters
During their visit, Ali and her delegation visited communities in the south, where they experienced the suffering of the residents after hearing a rocket alert blast in Sderot, forcing them to shelter in a nearby playground. They also met with residents who had been evacuated from the kibbutzim and heard the stories of the hostages.
Despite the shock from the horrors and the frustration from Palestinian terror, Ali refuses to surrender to pessimism: "Palestinians have the strength to depart from their circle of victimhood. They need to separate from Hamas and to tell them: You have stolen our honor from us.
"Anti-Israeliness leads to antisemitism. We feel what's happening on American campuses because of the war in Gaza, and it creates real concern because today it seems worse than ever. And why do they hate the Jewish communities in the United States? Because they became used to thinking that Israel is the aggressor."
Anila says that she has already been attacked for her courageous views and knows that her family may pay a price: "As a Muslim, in the current climate I can tell you that I'm more afraid of Muslims in California and Chicago than Muslims in Pakistan."
Sacha Roytman Dratwa, the CEO of the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), says that "With the current murky international atmosphere and in the shadow of the war against Hamas, it requires exceptional courage from these Muslim leaders, who have chosen to come on a solidarity visit to Israel and to go on tours that will bring them closer to the Israeli story without the filters of the international media."
As mentioned, at the end of last week, for the first time since Oct. 7, UN Women said that they "unequivocally condemn the brutal attacks by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7." They said: "We are alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks. This is why we have called for all accounts of gender-based violence to be duly investigated and prosecuted, with the rights of the victim at the core."
The founder and director of the Lobby to Combat Sexual Violence, Yael Sherer, who has been campaigning since Oct. 7 for UN Women to recognize the sexual crimes carried out by Hamas, said in response: "Nothing will wash away the stain and the disgrace of the organization's silence. The victims in Israel shouldn't be abandoned, and this declaration comes a little too late."
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