The new report by the UN secretary-general on sexual violence in conflicts is not only a professional document. It is also a political one. In Israel’s case, politics appears not only to be present in the report but to shape its conclusions.
Since October 7, the world has been exposed to harrowing testimony about sexual violence committed by Hamas during the massacre and in captivity. These were not internet rumors, but testimonies, documentation, professional assessments and findings examined by international bodies. The UN itself acknowledged this. Hamas was placed on the list of parties responsible for sexual violence in conflict.
But since then, a far more troubling process has intensified: the politicization of sexual violence. Instead of placing victims at the center, some UN mechanisms, political organizations and ideological actors have turned sexual violence into a tool in the battle over the narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is not a search for truth, but a search for political balance. It is not an examination of evidence, but the creation of symmetry.
When symmetry becomes the goal, truth becomes an obstacle
The current report is a clear example. On one hand, regarding Israeli hostages released from captivity who gave testimony about sexual abuse, the UN says it was unable to verify the claims because it was not given access to investigate them. On the other hand, regarding Israel, the same report does not hesitate to determine the existence of “patterns” and “systematic” conduct, relying on mechanisms and reports that have long been accused of systematic bias against Israel.
This is not only a professional failure. It shows that the standards are not uniform. In other words, it is not the evidence that determines the conclusion; at times, it seems the conclusion determines which evidence is considered sufficient.
The problem is even more serious because it does not harm only Israel. It harms the entire global fight against sexual violence in wartime.
For decades, women, researchers, human rights activists and legal experts fought to ensure that sex crimes in conflicts are taken seriously. They demanded professionalism, uniform standards, careful review and sensitivity toward victims. Now, those very achievements are at risk. Once the public begins to suspect that international mechanisms are driven by political considerations, trust in their findings erodes. And when trust erodes, the real victims are the first to suffer.
This does not mean Israel is exempt from criticism. Every allegation of sexual violence must be examined. Every suspicion requires investigation. That is how a state governed by the rule of law operates. But there is a vast difference between investigating complaints and creating a moral equivalence between a democratic state with an independent justice system and terrorist organizations that use rape as part of a military strategy.
The report itself describes what systematic sexual violence is: mass rape, sexual slavery, abductions for sexual exploitation, forced marriage and the use of sexual violence as a tool to terrorize entire populations. These are characteristics of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as seen in Sudan, Congo and Myanmar. When the same terms are used to describe entirely different situations, they lose their meaning.
The danger of politicization
When sexual violence becomes political currency, victims stop being human beings and become pawns. Testimonies are judged according to the victim’s nationality. The credibility given to victims is determined by which side benefits from their story. And the institutions meant to serve as the last line of defense for victims become players in a political struggle.
Ayelet Razin Bet Or
This is an injustice to Israeli victims. It is an injustice to Palestinian victims. And it is an injustice to all victims of sexual violence around the world.
The fight against sexual violence in conflicts must be free of political considerations. Once the UN and international institutions begin to be seen as seeking political balance instead of factual truth, they weaken not only Israel but trust in the entire system. And on the day no one believes the mechanisms meant to expose wartime sex crimes, the real losers will be the victims themselves. Not governments, organizations or states, but the people the world pledged to protect.
- Attorney Ayelet Razin Bet Or is an expert in advancing gender equality and combating gender-based violence, and a former director-general of the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women.