This year is the 23rd anniversary of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. While Take Back the Night impressed me, I was disappointed by Chico State’s and our Jewish community’s silence about the sexual violence of Hamas.
I was lying in bed when my mom texted me a live blog talking about how Israeli Defense Force soldiers died and people had been kidnapped. That day, Hamas was no longer a bunch of pests but a sophisticated and ruthless terror group like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS.
I will remember Oct. 7, 2023, for the rest of my life as a critical date, like many people remember September 11, 2001.
The most traumatic images I saw were of Naama Levy and Shani Louk. Levy had bloody pants and a battered face, Louk’s body was bent and twisted like a paperclip. While neither image confirms that they were raped, they are evidence of the violence women faced.
The IDF has compiled hours of GoPro footage for the press, which verifies rapes and other forms of sexual violence. When the hostages were paraded around Gaza, Gazans cheered Hamas and spit on the hostages despite them being injured from rape.
When the Israeli government withdrew in 2005, Gaza essentially became its own country. Hamas won the elections, beating out the Palestinian Authority and eventually purging PA members.
Hamas and Palestinian allies destroyed the Gazan greenhouses powering Israel’s agriculture industry, and they wasted money building terror tunnels and investing in weapons for the next war. Gaza could have been a Singapore; however, it ended up being just another failed state.
Most Palestinians supported the attack and Hamas, and if the PA allowed elections in the West Bank, Hamas would win.
It is sadly typical for Gazan Palestinian children to go to summer camp and get indoctrinated to kill Jews, not Israelis, but Jews.
These camps and schools are partially financed by the United Nations Works Relief Agency with American taxpayer dollars and staffed by adults who seek to raise an army of child soldiers.
Unfortunately, some people still doubt the barbarity of Hamas, while others are encouraging it.
University campuses have become a hotbed for antisemitism, with AEPI, Chabad, and Hillel facilities being harassed. And slogans like “rape is resistance,” “globalize the intifada” and “gas the Jews” have become commonplace.
In “pro-Palestine” protests, participants often wear masks or the keffiyehs popularized by arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat and/or wrap them like Hamas.
Some are even waving the Hezbollah flag of one of the most notorious terrorist groups in the Middle East, responsible for attacks on Jews as far as Argentina.
For a group of activists preaching to end “ethnic cleansing,” they have a habit of glamorizing violence.
Yes, Hamas is ISIS
We don’t say #hamasisis because we want to be provocative; we say it because the Middle East has not seen that level of terrorism since the height of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Much like Hamas, ISIS used human shields in Mosul and conducted an infamous campaign of ethnic cleansing and rape against countless Yazidi women.
And what Hamas did is what Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province, and the Sudanese Janjaweed are doing to Christians right now. The Western world is also silent about the rape and genocide of Hindus in Pakistan.
Future of the Islamic Civilization
Hospitality, literature, and scientific achievements are something indivisible with Islamic history and culture, just like the atrocities routinely committed by Islamic extremists as well as less visible acts of cruelty like female genital mutilation. As Muslims live within our borders, we must have an open mind and stick to our values.
Islam must reform itself, just like the Christians did during the peace of Westphalia after Christian kingdoms fought centuries of religious wars. Right now, the Islamic world is in a Clash of Civilizations, not just with the West but with itself.
Entities like Iran and the Islamic State are fighting to keep the 2 Billion Muslims in medieval conditions, while other entities like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are making slow but noticeable strides for modernization.
Women are caught in the crossfire of this Clash of Civilizations because of Islamic culture’s endemic sexism. Women deserve to prosper, yet the Islamic world remains indifferent to their suffering unless it affects the men who control them.
However, as Islam is the fastest-growing religion and their diaspora is expanding in this country, sexual assault awareness month is an ideal time to reflect on how billions of women are treated in countries less fortunate than ours.
Most of all, I hope that one day, this godforsaken war will be over, and Palestinian children can go to sports camps or theater camps just like Israelis instead of living a life where it’s only their deaths that matter.
Ari Sorokin can be reached at orionmanagingeditor@gmail.com.