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Abstract
This research note investigates the reasons for the silence, disbelief, and denial of the sexual atrocities perpetrated by Hamas during the October 7 attack. It employs as a framework Christie’s “ideal victim” conceptualization as adapted by van Wijk to explain the silence of international organizations and female-led civil society groups, about the abuse of Israeli women, including ensuing debates, despite expert reports documenting sexual abuse during conflict. We first discuss the reasons for and function of rape in war to effect political and demographic changes. We then review the respective Israeli and Palestinian narratives about the origins, history, and key events in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict leading up to the October 7 attack. The evidence for the sexual violence and efforts to question/deny it is contrasted with other international cases of wartime sexual abuse in DRC Congo, Iraq, Rwanda, and Nigeria. The endorsement of the Palestinian narrative by segments of the international community, which casts Israelis as deserving victims is then discussed. We conclude that, over time, the determination of who is a victim deemed worthy (or unworthy) of the international community’s sympathy and recognition, is a political judgment. Nils Christie’s concept of the “ideal victim,” is heuristically useful but politically contingent on the vicissitudes of the international zeitgeist of the moment, but not one based on forensic evidence or documentation of gender-based crimes.
Notes
1 Carrie Keller Lynn, “Amid War and Urgent Need to ID Bodies, Evidence of Hamas’s October 7 Rapes Slips Away.” Times of Israel, November 9, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/amid-war-and-urgent-need-to-id-bodies-evidence-of-hamass-october-7-rapes-slips-away/.
2 Nils Christie, “The Ideal Victim,” in From Crime Policy to Victim Policy, ed. E. A. Fattah (Basingstoke: MacMillan, 1986), 17–30.
3 Joris van Wijk, “Who Is the Little Old Lady of International Crimes? Nils Christie’s Concept of the Ideal Victim Reinterpreted,” International Review of Victimology, 19, no. 2 (2013), 159–79.
4 Christie, “Ideal Victim,” 18.
5 Jane Doe, “The Ultimate Rape Victim,” Canadian Woman Studies/les cahiers de la femme 25 (1) (2006). Retrieved from https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/view/5961.
6 Edith M. Lederer, “Women and Children are the Main Victims of the Israel Hamas War,” AP, January 19, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/women-children-gaza-war-victims-un-inequality-f0f89a724543b99c2c22439e7af09405. At the time of this writing the estimate is that over 25,000 children have been killed according to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The actual death toll is likely higher.
7 United Nations, Mission Report, Official Visit of the SRSG – SVC to Israel and West Bank 29 January – 14 February 2024, https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/report/mission-report-official-visit-of-the-office-of-the-srsg-svc-to-israel-and-the-occupied-west-bank-29-january-14-february-2024/20240304-Israel-oWB-CRSV-report.pdf.
8 Some conspiracy theorists alleged that Israeli helicopters had killed civilians as part of the so-called Hannibal Directive. See Urooba Jamal, “What’s Israel’s Hannibal Directive? A former Israeli soldier tells all.” Al Jazeera, November 3, 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/3/whats-the-hannibal-directive-a-former-israeli-soldier-tells-all.
9 Ezzat A. Fattah, “La Relativité Culturelle de la Victimisation,” Criminologie, 2 (1993), 121–36.
10 Anna Schechter, “Their Bodies Tell the Stories, They’re Not Alive to Speak for Themselves.” NBC News, December 5, 2023, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hamas-rape-israeli-women-oct-7-rcna128221#.
11 Mia Bloom, “Failures of Intervention: The Unintended Consequences of Mixed Messages and the Exacerbation of Ethnic Conflict” (PhD diss., Columbia University, 1999), https://www.worldcat.org/title/failures-of-intervention-the-unintended-consequences-of-mixed-messages-and-the-exacerbation-of-ethnic-conflict/oclc/43659339.
12 Monica Duffy Toft, The Geography of Ethnic Violence: Identity, Interests, and the Indivisibility of Territory (NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003), 3.
13 Bloom Interviews with Justice Richard Goldstone, May 2004.
14 Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will (NY: Fawcett Columbine, 1975), 32, https://frauenkultur.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Against-Our-Will.pdf.
15 Amnesty International, Lives Blown Apart (2004), 32, https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/act770752004en.pdf.
16 Lloyd de Mause, The Emotional Life of Nations, ch.5, http://www.psychohistory.com/htm/eln06_war.html citing Hanna Fenichel Pitkin, Fortune Is a Woman: Gender and Politics in the thought of Niccolò Machiavelli (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 25, 274.
17 National Organization of Women (NOW), “Armies at war Use Rape as a Weapon,” National NOW Times (Fall 1999).
18 Dan Byman, Riley McCaube, Alexander Palmer, and Catrina Doxsee, Hamas’s October 7, CSIS, Visualizing the Data. December 19, 2023, https://www.csis.org/analysis/hamass-october-7-attack-visualizing-data.
19 Bruce Hoffman, “Understanding Hamas’s Genocidal Ideology,” The Atlantic, October 10, 2023, https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/10/hamas-covenant-israel-attack-war-genocide/675602/.
20 Wilf testimony to the US Congress, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1ku4cE_e4U.
21 Hillel Cohen, Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1929. 2015 https://youtu.be/HeFyFamL4t8; see also Cohen’s lecture series offered by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung beginning with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCYSupq_Rzo.
22 https://youtu.be/HeFyFamL4t8. See also Edna Erez, “Protracted War, Terrorism and Mass Victimization: Exploring Victimological/Criminological Theories and Concepts in Addressing Terrorism in Israel,” in Large-Scale Victimisation as a Potential Source of Terrorist Activities - Regaining Security in Post-Conflict Societies. NATO Security through Science Series, E: Human and Societal Dynamics Vol. 13, ed. Uwe Ewald and Ksenija Turković (The Netherlands: ISO Press, 2006), 89–102
24 Tzvi Yehezkely’s documentary titled “Habaim L’hargenu” (in Hebrew, “Those who come to kill us” shown on Channel 13, March 12, 2024
25 Esther Meir-Glitzenstein, “Operation Magic Carpet: Constructing the Myth of the Magical Immigration of Yemenite Jews To Israel,” Israel Studies, 16, no. 3 (2011), 149–173, https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.2979/israelstudies.16.3.149.pdf.
26 Naama M Kopelman, Lewi Stone, Dena G. Hernandez, Dov Gefel, Andrew B Singleton, Evelyne Heyer, Marcus W Feldman, Jossi Hillel, Noah A. Rosenberg, “High-resolution inference of genetic relationships among Jewish populations,” European Journal of Human Genetics, 28, no. 6 (2020), 804–14.
27 Hoffman Understanding Hamas, Islamic Resistance Movement’s raison d’être: the slaughter of Jews. “The Day of Judgement will not come about,” it proclaims, “until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”.
28 International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, “Working definition of Anti Semitism,” https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism.
29 Gianluca Pacchiani, “Hamas Official Says Group Aims to Repeat Oct 7.” Times of Israel, November 1, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-official-says-group-aims-to-repeat-oct-7-onslaught-many-times-to-destroy-israel/.
30 “Why should a Palestinian agree to a fifth of the land, i.e. the 1967 borders which account for only 21%?” Mashal Interview posted to YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4oQCZgS4fk.
31 Adi Schwartz and Anat Wilf, The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace (Macmillan Publishing).
32 Menachem Klein, “The PLO as a Methodological Problem for Israeli Researchers, 1985-1993,” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 20, no. 2 (1993), 164–73. http://www.jstor.org/stable/195878.
33 Summer Said, Dov Lieber, and Benoit Faucon, Hamas “Fighters Trained in Iran Before October 7 Attacks,” October 25, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-fighters-trained-in-iran-before-oct-7-attacks-e2a8dbb9, see also Phillip Smyth, “The Path to October 7: How Iran Built up and Managed October 7 Palestinian Axis of Resistance,” CTC West Point, 16, no. 11, (2023), https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-path-to-october-7-how-iran-built-up-and-managed-a-palestinian-axis-of-resistance/.
34 Michael A. Cohen, “The Rape Denialists.” The Atlantic, April 17, 2024.
35 Cohen, “Rape Denialists.”
36 Jack Tapper, “The Lead,” CNN, https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/11/16/the-lead-israel-investigates-sexual-violence-claims-on-october-7-jake-tapper.cnn.
37 Jake Tapper and Kirsten Appleton, “Israel Investigates Sexual Violence Committed by Hamas as Part of October 7 Horror,” CNN, November 19, 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/17/world/israel-investigates-sexual-violence-hamas/index.html.
38 Tovah Lazaroff, “Kirby: Safe to Assume Hamas Is Still Weaponizing Sexual Violence,” Jerusalem Post, December 7, 2023, https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-777071.
39 Myah Ward, “Biden Calls World to ‘Forcefully Condemn’ Sexual Violence By Hamas,” Politico, December 5, 2023, https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/05/biden-condemn-sexual-violence-hamas-00130221.
40 Liza Rozovsky, “15 Witnesses, Three Confessions, a Pattern of Naked Dead Bodies. All the Evidence of Hamas Rape on October 7,” Ha’aretz, April 18, 2024, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-04-18/ty-article-magazine/.premium/witnesses-confessions-naked-dead-bodies-all-the-evidence-of-hamas-rape-on-oct-7/0000018e-f114-d92e-abfe-f77f7e3f0000.
41 Jerusalem Post, “AP Photographer Co-Wins for Photo of Terrorists Taking Shani Louk’s Corpse into Gaza,” March 29, 2024, https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-794100.
42 Jeffrey Gettleman, Anat Schwartz, and Adam Sella, “Screams Without Words,” New York Times, December 28, 2023, A1.
43 “Screams Without Words,” NYT.
44 Ali Abunimah, “Columbia Students Confront Hilary Clinton with her War Crimes,” Electronic Intifada, February 15, 2024, https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/columbia-students-confront-hillary-clinton-her-war-crimes, PBS, “Columbia Cancels in-Person Classes as Pro-Palestinian Protests Sprout across U.S. Campuses,” April 22, 2024, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/columbia-cancels-in-person-classes-as-pro-palestinian-protests-sprout-across-u-s-campuses.
45 Jerusalem Post, “Yale Paper Apologizes for ‘Correction’ on Story about Hamas Rape,” November 3, 2023, https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-771493.
46 Grace Zokovitch, “Protest Encampments Related to Gaza War Take Root,” Boston Herald, April 22, 2024, https://www.bostonherald.com/2024/04/22/protest-encampments-related-to-war-in-gaza-take-root-at-mit-emerson-harvard-closes-campus-to-prevent-demonstrations/.
47 Theo Baker, “The War at Stanford,” The Atlantic, March 26, 2024, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/03/stanford-israel-gaza-hamas/677864/.
48 Michael Horvitz, “US Professor Who Denies Oct. 7 Rape Cases up for Top Role at Campus Diversity Office,” Times of Israel, December 23, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-professor-who-denies-oct-7-rape-cases-up-for-top-role-at-campus-diversity-office/.
50 Tapper and Appleton, CNN.
51 R. K. Ressler, A. W. Burgess, C. R. Hartman, J. E. Douglas, and A. McCormack, “Murderers Who Rape and Mutilate,” Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 1, no. 3 (1986), 273–87.
52 Tamar Uriel Beeri, “Hamas Terrorists Forced Families to Watch Loved Ones Get Raped at Gunpoint,” Jerusalem Post, February 21, 2024, https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-787994.
53 “Hamas sexual crimes on October 7.” English_Swords_of_Iron_DOCUMENTS_ARCCI report - Hamas sexual crimes on October 7.pdf (www.gov.il).
54 Tamar Uriel Beeri, “Hamas Terrorists Forced.”
55 15 Witnesses, Ha’aretz.
56 Ibid.
57 Ibid.
58 Ibid.
59 Jeremy Diamond, “Israeli Woman Who Was Held Hostage by Hamas Speaks Out on Her Abduction and Sexual Assault in Gaza,” CNN, March 27, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/26/middleeast/amit-soussana-israeli-hostage-hamas-sexual-assault-intl/index.html.
60 The book of Deuteronomy 21,23; Mishna Sanhedrin 6, 5.
61 “Screams Without Words,” NYT.
62 Ibid.
63 Ibid.
64 Carrie Keller Lynn, “Amid War and Urgent Need to ID Bodies, Evidence of Hamas’s October 7 Rapes Slips Away,” Times of Israel, November 9, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/amid-war-and-urgent-need-to-id-bodies-evidence-of-hamass-october-7-rapes-slips-away/.
65 Lynn, Amid War.
66 “Screams Without Words,” NYT.
67 Ibid., NYT.
70 “Screams Without Words,” NYT.
71 Ibid., NYT.
72 PBS Newshour, “Survivors of Hamas Assault on Music Fest Describe Horrors and How They Made It Out Alive,” Transcript, October 10, 2023, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/survivors-of-hamas-assault-on-music-fest-describe-horrors-and-how-they-made-it-out-alive.
73 Tapper and Appleton, CNN.
74 American Jewish Committee (AJC), “What Is Known about Israeli Hostages Taken by Hamas?”, January 9, 2024, https://www.ajc.org/news/what-is-known-about-israeli-hostages-taken-by-hamas, Aaron Poris, Miriam Bulwar, and David-Hay, “Freed from Hell: Timeline of Hostage Releases During Israel Hamas War,” Jerusalem Post, December 3, 2023, https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-776293. This number has been periodically updated as some of the kidnapped victims have died or killed in captivity. A report by the Daily Mail suggests that only about 40 hostages are still alive, Wills Robinson, “US ‘Fears Most of the Hamas Hostages Could be DEAD’: Terrorist Group May ‘Not Have Enough’ of the 40 Detainees Needed in Ceasefire Talks, Disturbing New Reports Say,” Daily Mail, April 11, 2024, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13298945/US-fears-Hamas-hostages-DEAD-Terrorist-group-not-40-detainees-needed-ceasefire-talks-disturbing-new-reports-say.html
75 Lazaroff, Safe to Assume.
76 Nadia Murad, The Last Girl: the Story of My Captivity and My Fights Against the Islamic State (New York: Crown, 2018).
77 Murad, The Last Girl.
79 Times of Israel, ‘We’ll never forgive’: Mom, daughter on life of fear in Gaza captivity, pain upon return. Temporary marriage allowed Muslim men to have sexual relations with a woman for a limited and arranged specific period of time. December 23, 2023, https://www.timesofisrael.com/we-will-never-forgive-freed-hostages-describe-intense-fear-in-gaza-captivity/.
80 Times of Israel, ‘We’ll Never Forgive.’
81 Joannie Margulies, “Released Gaza Hostage Breaks Silence on Hamas Sexual Violence in Sheryl Sandberg Doc,” Jerusalem Post, February 13, 2024, https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-786781.
82 Lesley Stahl, “Freed Israeli Hostage Yarden Roman-Gat Recounts 54 Days of Terror Being Held by Hamas in Gaza,” CBS News, December 17, 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/freed-israeli-hostage-yarden-roman-gat-recounts-being-held-hamas-gaza-60-minutes-transcript/.
83 Doron Katz Asher interview with Bianna Golodryga, CNN, January 4, 2024, https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/04/middleeast/israel-hostage-doron-katz-asher-interview-hamas-gaza-intl/index.html.
84 Leslie Stahl and David Morgan, “Doctor Who Treated Freed Hamas Hostages Describes Physical, Sexual and Psychological Abuse,” CBS News, December 17, 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doctor-who-treated-freed-hamas-hostages-describes-physical-sexual-and-psychological-abuse/.
85 Some referred to them as the “Israelis/Jews of October 8,” namely, those on the left, including Wilf, who following the October 7 atrocities, had a wake-up call and began to doubt the prospects of peace with Hamas or even the Palestinians. Others refer to October 8 as having an Israeli community that is united, as some attributed the Hamas attack to perceiving Israel to be divided and vulnerable.
86 See note 73.
87 Times of Israel, “We’ll Never Forgive,” December 23, 2023.
88 Reuters, “Video Shows Moment of Israeli Hostage’s Capture by Hamas,” April 18, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/video-shows-moment-israeli-hostages-capture-by-hamas-2024-04-18/.
89 Cohen, “Rape Denialists”.
90 @ AliAdiOK on X, https://x.com/AliAdiOK/status/1780673047831130112.
91 Reuters, Israeli forensic teams describe signs of torture, abuse. October 15, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-forensic-teams-describe-signs-torture-abuse-2023-10-15/.
92 Marisa Fox, “UN and Women’s Groups Ignore or Deny the Systematic Rape of Israeli Women by Hamas,” Daily Beast, November 25, 2023, https://www.thedailybeast.com/un-ignores-systematic-rape-of-israeli-women-by-hamas.
93 Lisa Debode, “Global Outrage over Kidnapping of Nigerian Schoolgirls,” Al Jazeera, May 6, 2014, http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/5/6/protesters-demandactionatnigerianembassiestohelpkidnappedgirls.html.
94 Jane Prinsley, “Relatives Criticize Michelle Obama for Silence over Female Hostages on Women’s Day,” The Jewish Chronicle, March 8, 2024, https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/relatives-horrified-by-celebrity-silence-over-female-hostages-on-womens-day-owtirloh.
95 Deborah Lipstadt and Michèle Taylor, “Israeli Women and Girls Have Suffered Horrific Sexual Violence from Hamas. Where Is the outrage?,” The Guardian, January 11, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/11/israeli-women-and-girls-have-suffered-horrific-sexual-violence-from-hamas-where-is-the-outrage?CMP=share_btn_tw.
96 Lipstadt and Taylor, “Where’s the Outrage?”
97 UN Women, Statement on the Situation in Israel and Gaza, December 1, 2023, https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/statement/2023/12/un-women-statement-on-the-situation-in-israel-and-gaza#:∼:text=We%20deeply%20regret%20that%20military,on%20Israel%20on%207%20October.
98 Reuters, “EU Sanctions Hamas Wings over Sexual Violence Oct.7,” April 12, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-sanctions-hamas-wings-over-sexual-violence-oct-7-2024-04-12/.
99 Anna Schechter, “Their Bodies Tell the Stories, They’re Not Alive to Speak for Themselves,” NBC news, December 5, 2023, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hamas-rape-israeli-women-oct-7-rcna128221#.
100 Yaniv Kubovitch, “Israel Publishes Video of Islamic Jihad Terrorist Confessing to October 7 Rape,” Ha’aretz, March 28, 2024, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-03-28/ty-article/.premium/israel-publishes-video-of-islamic-jihad-terrorist-confessing-to-october-7-rape/0000018e-86b4-d641-abee-cfb720f40000
101 See note 57.
102 “In first, UN Sending Envoy to Investigate Hamas Sexual Crimes on October 7,” Times of Israel, January 9, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-first-un-sending-envoy-to-investigate-hamas-sexual-crimes-on-october-7/.
103 Hamas released a statement from their Media office of the Islamic Resistance Movement, This is our story: Why the Al Aqsa Flood? No date: الأقصى؟ ُن طوفا لماذا ..روايُتنا هذه
104 Daniel Boguslaw and Ryan Grim, “The New York Times Puts Daily Episode on Ice Amid Internal Firestorm Over Hamas Sexual Violence Article,” The Intercept, January 28, 2024, https://theintercept.com/2024/01/28/new-york-times-daily-podcast-camera/.
105 Staff, Times of Israel, February 21, 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-report-submitted-to-un-on-hamass-mass-scale-weaponization-of-rape/#:∼:text=The%20Association%20of%20Rape%20Crisis,evidence%20of%20such%20crimes%20being.
106 United Nations, Mission Report, Official Visit of the SRSG – SVC to Israel and West Bank 29 January – 14 February 2024, https://news.un.org/en/sites/news.un.org.en/files/atoms/files/Mission_report_of_SRSG_SVC_to_Israel-oWB_29Jan_14_feb_2024.pdf See also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLsVvCyTk00.
107 Ellen Ioanes, “What the UN Report on October 7 Sexual Violence Does—and Doesn’t—Say,” Vox, March 8, 2024, https://www.vox.com/world-politics/24093631/un-israel-october-7-sexual-violence.
108 Israel Gaza: Hamas raped and mutilated women on 7 October, BBC hears.
109 UNOHCHR Report, “UN Experts Appalled by Reported Human Rights Violations Reported against Palestinian Women and Girls”, February 19, 2024, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/02/israelopt-un-experts-appalled-reported-human-rights-violations-against.
110 UNOHCHR Report, Experts Appalled.
111 Mia Bloom, “Death Becomes Her: Women, Occupation, and Terrorist Mobilization,” PS: Political Science & Politics, 43, no. 3 (2010), 445–50.
112 Ohad Merlin, “Hamas, Al Jazeera Admit: Story of IDF Rapes in Gaza Hospital Fabricated,” Jerusalem Post, March 25, 2024, https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-793560.
113 Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, “Palestinian Women and the Politics of Invisibility Towards a Feminist Methodology,” Peace Prints: South Asian Journal of Peace Building 3 (2010), 1–21.
114 Revital Madar, “Beyond Male Israeli Soldiers, Palestinian Women, Rape, and War,” Conflict and Society, 9 no. 1 (2023). Tal Nitzan’s research on sexual violence of Palestinian women by Israeli soldiers found there were political motives for not raping and thus no cases. “Controlled Occupation: The Rarity of Military Rape in the Israeli – Palestinian Conflict” (Master’s Thesis: Hebrew University 2006 (in Hebrew) https://www.academia.edu/3731117/Controlled_Occupation_The_Rarity_of_Military_Rape_in_the_Israeli_Palestinian_Conflict_2007_Hebrew_.
115 Assma Maad, William Audureau, and Samuel Forey, “‘40 Beheaded Babies’: Deconstructing the Rumor at the Heart of the Information Battle between Israel and Hamas,” Le Monde, April 3, 2024, https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2024/04/03/40-beheaded-babies-the-itinerary-of-a-rumor-at-the-heart-of-the-information-battle-between-israel-and-hamas_6667274_8.html.
116 15 Witnesses, Ha’aretz.
117 Hamas, This is our story, الأقصى؟ ُن طوفا لماذا … روايُتنا هذه.
118 In addition to war crimes and genocide, there is another category of offences now recognized in international law (and first applied at the Nuremberg trials): crimes against humanity. These include murder, torture, and rape, enslavement of nationals of a defendant’s own state, as well as those of a hostile power, in times of peace or war. To qualify as a crime against humanity, rather than as merely common murder, rape or assault, the violence must be part of a widespread or systemic pattern. It is this that allows international law to kick in. Legal scholars claim that both war crimes and crimes against humanity enjoy “universal jurisdiction”, which means that, in theory, any country has the right to try any perpetrator, no matter where the crime was committed or by whom.
119 UNCTED, United Nations Counter-Terrorism Directorate, “Towards Meaningful Accountability for Sexual and Gender Based Violence Linked to Terrorism,” November 2023, https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/ctc/sites/www.un.org.securitycouncil.ctc/files/cted_report-_sgbv_linked_to_terrorism_final.pdf.
120 Only crimes of genocide are truly subject to “universal jurisdiction,” for instance this was how General Pinochet came to be arrested in Britain. While visiting New York City, Mr. Karadzic, who has managed to allude the ICTY thus far, was served. The law under which Mr. Karadzic has been sued is known as the Alien Tort Claims Act, originally a part of the Judiciary Act of 1789. The law gives American district court’s jurisdiction over “any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.”
121 123 countries are States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
122 Cohen, “Rape Denialists.”
123 Lipstadt and Taylor, “Where’s the Outrage?”
124 van Wijk, “Who Is the Little,” 171–75.