On 21 May the Danube Institute organized an event titled Sexual Violence in Israel and Gaza on October 7 and Beyond: Impact, Denial and Silence, about Hamas’s brutal sexual violence against Israelis on 7 October, and the hostages in Gaza. The invited speakers also looked at the reactions to the 10/7 violence in Israel, its denial in the Arabic-speaking world and the silence of the West. At the event, His Excellency Yacov Hadas-Handelsman, Israeli Ambassador to Hungary; Nicki, a Staff Sergeant of IDF Spokesperson’s Unit; Shirel Liberman, an Israeli influencer and the co-founder of SHIFT, a grassroots women’s group promoting the positive representation of Israel abroad, and Or Yissachar, the head of research for the Israeli Defense and Security Forum discussed these important topics.
Since the 7 October Hamas massacre, the violent, antisemitic, terror-supporting pro-Palestinian protests have been something we Hungarians haven’t witnessed in our country. This was because just a few days after 7 October—as also reported by Hungarian Conservative—Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared that Hungary won’t allow pro-Palestinian protests in support of terrorists. It was, therefore, shocking to witness the antisemitic hatred of the 10–15 pro-Palestinian demonstrators—ironically, primarily women—who, it seems, travelled more than two hours from Vienna only to sabotage our important event and silence the Israeli guests’ speeches. Although they managed to stage the first aggressive Palestinian protest in Hungary, their primary goal of silencing the Israeli representatives who came to Hungary to bear witness to the brutality of Hamas on 7 October wasn’t achieved. What they managed to do, however, is illustrate a crucial difference in how the two sides advocate: while Israeli advocates presented their arguments intelligently and peacefully, told their painful experiences, and even when they were shouted at answered questions, the Palestinian protesters had no substantive arguments, instead, they shouted antisemitic slogans full of hatred, and in a deeply disrespectful manner, tried to do everything to silence the Israelis and those who support them. The disruption of the event served as a wake-up call for Hungarians: the deep antisemitic hatred of these pro-Palestinian/pro-Hamas mobs was no longer concealed and the alarming reality of what Israelis and Jewish people are facing worldwide became tangible. As Or Yissachar highlighted in a recent article penned after the event: ‘The Danube Institute, which had the commendable initiative to host this event and worked so hard to make it happen, found itself the victim of an ambuscade.’
Eden Golan, Israeli Representative of the Eurovision Song Contest, Became the Symbol of Israeli Resilience
Following the welcoming speeches, to commemorate the victims of 7 October and remember the hostages who are still in Hamas captivity in Gaza, a video of Eden Golan, the 20-year-old artist who powerfully represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest, was played, where she sings her song ‘October Rain’ for the first time at a rally in Tel Aviv. ‘October Rain’ was originally written to be performed at the contest in Sweden, but the European Broadcasting Union disqualified the song for having political messaging; therefore, Ms Golan had to rewrite lines from her original song such as ‘Promise me that never again/I’m still wrecked from this October Rain’ or ‘Hours and hours and flowers/Life is no game for the cowards’ and also change the title to ‘Hurricane’. Golan described the song as her prayer to bring the 125 hostages back home to Israel. The song’s original final section in Hebrew, which had to be rewritten, was: ‘There is no air left to breathe/No place, no me from day to day/They were all good kids, every one of them.’ At the song contest in Malmö, Ms Golan faced abuse as thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters, including the famous environmental activist Greta Thunberg wearing a keffiyeh, demonstrated outside the venue, demanding her removal from the contest. The booing of pro-Palestinians in the audience while Ms Golan was performing was also so loud that the organizers had to turn off the crowd’s microphone. Despite the challenges, Ms Golan showed incredible strength and bravery and came in fifth in the contest; as a result, she has become a symbol of Israeli resilience and a powerful icon for the Danube Institute’s event as well.
‘With or without international support, Israel will continue to stay strong and continue its fight against Hamas’
After reflecting on Golan’s bravery and strength in face of the hatred she faced at the Eurovision contest, Israel’s Ambassador to Hungary Yacov Hadas-Handelsman highlighted the phenomenon of an alarming level of indifference to and denial of Hamas’s barbaric attack, including severe sexual violence against Israeli civilians on 7 October, which has been justified by many as ‘Palestinian resistance’.
Just before being interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters several times, the Israeli ambassador raised attention to the growing level of antisemitism and the terror-supporting protests on university campuses and streets around the world. He highlighted that the infamous chant ‘From the river to the sea Palestine will be free’—which was also shouted several times at our event along with other antisemitic slogans—refers to the ethnic cleansing of Israeli Jewish people and the destruction of the Jewish state, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan river. In fact, the US House of Representatives recently condemned the chant in a resolution that defined it as antisemitic. On the same day our event was held, the Dutch parliament also adopted a motion that says that chanting this slogan is a criminal act of incitement to violence and ‘comes right off the Hamas charter and is, therefore, a call for violence against all Jews worldwide.’
The Israeli ambassador also raised attention to
the shocking and painfully deafening silence of women’s organizations after 7 October
and highlighted that it took the UN five months to publish a report about the evidence that hostages held in Gaza have been subjected to sexual violence including rape and sexual torture. He highlighted that the report also found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that sexual violence, including gang rape, took place on 7 October, when Hamas attacked Israel. ‘Hamas has clearly and purposefully wanted to inflict pain in the cruellest manner possible and has redefined evil in such ways that we need to adjust the international criminal law. The barbaric attack perpetrated by Hamas ISIS will forever leave a dark mark on Israel, and all those affected by these heinous acts, but also on all those who should have reacted and stayed silent,’ the ambassador added. To conclude, Ambassador Handelsman stated: ‘With or without international support, we’ll continue to stay strong. We’ll continue to fight against Hamas because no country on Earth would tolerate such a murderous band of extremists in its neighbourhood. Israel has not only the right but also the duty to defend its people against terror, restore security, and bring the hostages back.’
‘Within a few days after 7 October, the world went from standing with Israel to a point where we need to prove that the brutal atrocities happened’
Following his speech the Israeli ambassador was forced to leave the building for reasons of personal security as more protesters stood up and attempted to approach the Israelis present. The pro-Palestinian hecklers shouted various slogans, including the aforementioned ‘from the river to the sea…’ chant along with other antisemitic claims and curses, directed not only at the Israeli speakers but to the organizers and entire audience, accusing all of us of being ‘genocide supporters, baby killers’ and so on. This disruptive behaviour occurred every ten minutes or so. Soon, it was easy to identify the tactic of the protesters: although they tried hard to blend in and sit in different places, when someone who belonged to their group stood up to shout the slogans, they all made sure to video the charade and then portray themselves as ‘victims’ when they were escorted out of the building.
The representative of the IDF’s spokespersons unit, Staff Sergeant Nicki, came not only to represent the Israeli military but also as a civilian bearing witness to the testimonies of women who experienced sexual violence by Hamas on 7 October. Although the IDF representative was immediately interrupted by the hecklers, she continued her speech, repeatedly saying that she would be happy to answer any questions following her remarks. She underscored that the event is not about suppressing opinions and that it’s okay to listen to both sides. She described her experiences on 7 October when she was woken up to sirens at 7 a.m., which, as she phrased, was, unfortunately, something that they’re used to; however, as she got news about the terrorist infiltrations, it was something that she wasn’t accustomed to. After she heard that Hamas terrorists raided the Nova Festival—which, as she described it, was a peace music festival—that a lot of her best friends attended, she anxiously waited to hear from them, not knowing whether they were still alive or not. While some managed to escape, some were brutally murdered by Hamas. As she phrased it: ‘Within a few days after 7 October, the world went from standing with us, and believing what happened, to a point where we need to prove what happened.’
When it comes to stories of sexual violence on 7 October, Staff Sergeant Nicki highlighted that while it is a legitimate concern to seek the truth and look for evidence, we must remember that these are real women who have endured unimaginable trauma;
therefore, it shouldn’t be expected from the victims to immediately start to speak about the abhorrent abuses they suffered to a public that doesn’t necessarily believe them. Due to her work in media, Staff Sergeant Nicki watched all of the footage of Hamas’s brutal atrocities, which, as she phrased, dd not ‘look like war; it was something deeper than that, the intent was different. Seeing the humiliation that they were intending to do was heartbreaking. Seeing children crying as their parents were being murdered in front of them, seeing women holding their babies trying to protect them from being kidnapped, hearing the testimonies, and understanding the sexual violence—all of this was an act of humiliation in which they used all tools in their hands and all the time they had to the most they could, other than just murdering.’
‘Israeli women were violated first by Hamas, then by the feminist movements who didn’t bother to condemn what happened on 7 October’
Shirel Liberman, an Israeli activist and co-founder of SHIFT, a women-led impact network aimed at supporting women in public diplomacy, came to the event as someone who has close friends who fought on 7 October to rescue people from their safe rooms, and who lost close friends at the Nova festival. Ms Liberman highlighted that as a sexual violence survivor herself, she felt it was an ‘obligation’ to bear witness to what happened on 7 October. Ms Liberman highlighted that 7 October will be a day for Israelis and Jews around the world that is ‘forever engraved in our hearts and souls for generations to come.’ She added that on 7 October, ‘we as people woke up to a different reality, but we as women encountered a new world where the phrase “me too” is nothing but an empty slogan, because people who invented the movement, when the time actually came to protect, defend and shout for those who can’t shout anymore, they failed to do that.’ Ms Liberman also stressed that Hamas’s use of violence, of
raping, humiliating, mutilating, and killing, was systematic, planned, and premeditated
against men, women, children, and the elderly.
As she put it: ‘Women bodies were used as a weapon of war, because when the body of women is violated, it symbolizes the body of an entire nation.’ She stressed that ‘women were violated first by Hamas but then a second time by those feminists who didn’t bother to condemn the atrocities of Hamas and hold them accountable for the crimes they did.’ Ms Liberman highlighted that what is worse is that women organizations like the Me Too movement or feminists like Michelle Obama or Angelina Jolie were not comfortable condemning what Hamas did but felt comfortable blaming Israel for its response. The Israeli activist’s speech included a video of testimonies of survivors from the 60-minute, presenter-led documentary film titled Screams Before Silence and several confessions of Hamas terrorists in which they declared that they intended to rape, abduct, and murder Israeli women.
To conclude, Ms Liberman highlighted the importance of being the voices of those who have been brutally silenced and of those thirteen women still in Hamas captivity who are believed to continue to sexually abused. She asked the non-Jewish friends and allies of Israel to ‘help amplify the voices of goodness, peace and truth, and never, ever forget.’
Or Yissachar: ‘We are done being Jews on trembling knees’
Before the last speaker of the event, Or Yissachar, head of research at IDSF, even had a chance to start his presentation, another pro-Palestinian demonstrator shouted and cursed at him to silence him, followed by other protesters. However, as it can be seen from the video IDSF posted, the Israeli expert handled the situation intelligently and with great humour, and delivered his important speech unperturbed.
Mr Yissachar started his speech by paraphrasing what Menachem Begin, former Israeli prime minister, said, stating: ‘We’re done being Jews with trembling knees; we’re fighting with uniform, defending ourselves and refuse to be victims.’ However, he added, ‘When Jews are beginning to defend themselves is when people start to have a problem.’
Mr Yissachar highlighted that while he recognizes that every civilian life lost is a tragedy, it’s shameful to accuse Israel of killing civilians on purpose when Hamas, with their weapons, are hiding among civilians in Gaza. In his speech, Mr Yissachar aimed to reframe Israel’s war against Hamas as Israel’s war against Iran and the West’s war against the radical axis of Russia, China, and Iran. Mr Yissachar also highlighted the West’s double standard regarding its reaction to the Ukrainian war and the Israeli war. The expert pointed out that even though Israel and Ukraine are both fighting for their existence against the radical axis, when it comes to Ukraine, the West is giving support ‘no matter how high the cost,’ whereas when it comes to condemning Israel, ‘no superlative is too excessive’ and ‘an embargo on arms’ is called for. Mr Yissachar also highlighted that as opposed to the accusations, Israel is the only country that supplies its enemy with aid, fuel, and food during wartime, even though Hamas gets to control most of it.
Last year, at a Danube Institute conference on 27 November about the Israeli–Hamas war, Mr Yissachar illustrated how Israelis are aware of what they’re fighting for in Gaza with the story of one of the 23-year-old hostages, Elyakim Libman’s, two brothers, who are combat soldiers fighting in Gaza and wherever they go, they spray paint on the walls ‘Elyakim, just hang in there, we’re coming!’ In his speech on 21 May, unfortunately, he shared the tragic news that the 23-year-old, who was working as a security guard at the Supernova Music Festival on 7 October, and stayed behind and tried to save others at the party, wasn’t kidnapped but murdered with an RPG missile and was accidentally buried with another victim.
To conclude, Mr Yissachar stressed that Israel must win this war, because ‘if Israel loses its war against the radical axis, the West is next.’
Following the Q&A, with important questions and some interruptions from pro-Palestinian protesters who remained in the audience, John O’Sullivan, the President of the Danube Institute, thanked the Israeli speakers for their presentations and for answering everyone, and remaining calm, reasonable, and tackling the situation with great humour, despite protesters not asking genuine questions but shouting monologs and slogans. Mr Sullivan also apologized in the name of the Danube Institute that the Israeli speakers were subjected to such behaviour and stressed: ‘7 October showed that Hamas is a murderous, genocidal, and utterly ruthless terrorist organization.’ The president added that at the Danube Institute, we believe in telling the truth, which is what happened at the event.
As the pro-Palestinian hecklers were being escorted out of the building, they vandalized the bathroom doors with the graffiti ‘Free Palestine’ and then blockaded the main entrance of the building, continuing to shout their slogans and harassing guests who were arriving at the restaurant also located in the building. Although they ran away before the police arrived, the 26-year-old Tunisian citizen who was the most violent protester was brought to the police station and questioned on suspicion of assault, and a warrant of caption was issued against the other individuals who had disrupted the event. The Israeli embassy called the interruptions ‘shameful’, adding that ‘free speech should never be used to silence’ others.
Hungary’s Zero-Tolerance Policy Toward All Forms of Antisemitism Reaffirmed
Balázs Orbán, the political director of the Hungarian Prime Minister, reacted to what happened in a Hetek podcast discussion, declaring: ‘Hungary has a zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of antisemitism and generally towards all forms of violent expression, which is a government policy that we do not compromise on. This is why, in recent months, we have been actually the only country in Europe that has not allowed violent protests in support of terrorist organizations. The safety of our Jewish compatriots living in Hungary is of paramount importance to us, and we do not want to sacrifice this security for anything. These violent incidents and the disruption of free expression are unacceptable in our view, and I would like to urge law enforcement agencies to do everything in their power to ensure that such incidents do not happen again.’
As Mr Yissachar also reminded in his article on Ynet, the Hungarian left-wing and right-wing media condemned what happened in unison. Quoting the title of the Hungarian Conservative article on the incident, ‘Importing hatred to Hungary’, he highlighted: ‘Hungary is a country that could not be more aggressive toward anti-Israeli rhetoric and, unlike many of its European neighbours, had no violent demonstrations on its streets and campuses.’ Mr Yissachar concluded his article by stressing: ‘This, if any, is the real victory. Not backing down, facing a mob, taking severe steps against rioters, volunteers wiping out their graffiti, and local media united in its distaste for this show of hatred…We are not measured by our attackers but by our response to them. The contrast between the two could not be more obvious to me.’
Although it was shocking and painful to witness the attempted sabotage of such a sensitive and important event and tribute we organized with great effort, in the end, it showed the importance of Hungarians standing with Israel and not letting the deeply antisemitic, terror-supporting hatred be imported to our country. No matter how hard they try, they won’t be able to silence the truth in Hungary.
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