Israel spotlights Hamas sexual violence at UN Oct. 7 commemoration: ‘Many forget why we’re in Gaza’

By Nava Freiberg

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29 September 2025, 3:48 pm

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Nava Freiberg is The Times of Israel's deputy diplomatic correspondent.

The authors of the Dinah Project's report on sexual violence on and since October 7 are pictured with First Lady Michal Herzog (center) at the President's Residence, Jerusalem, July 8, 2025. (Itzik Biran)

Israel is currently holding a commemoration ceremony for the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, where some 40 international representatives will be presented with the findings of the Dinah Project – the first legal framework to prosecute Hamas terrorists for the use of sexual violence during the massacre.

“We think that it’s of the utmost importance to raise the issue, to remind the world, those at the UN, about the seventh of October and the horrors that happened on that day and since then, including the sexual violence against the Israelis and against hostages,” Daniel Meron, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, tells The Times of Israel.

The event is attended by ambassadors and deputy ambassadors from a wide range of countries and organizations, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Norway, Finland, India, Ethiopia, the European Union, and the Red Cross.

“There’s many people coming to commemorate the seventh of October, which is a good sign. It’s good to see that people come to be with us in these difficult times. And that goes against the notion that Israel is being isolated in the world,” Meron adds.

Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, a legal expert at Bar-Ilan University who co-authored the report, will present the project as a central part of the ceremony, which also includes the lighting of a memorial candle and highlights the plight of the hostages.

Meron notes that the environment on the street has been “unpleasant,” pointing to a protest in Geneva of 6,000-10,000 participants this past weekend against Israel’s actions in Gaza, noting it was “one out of many, but this one was the largest one.”

“We still have many friends, and we work there to make sure that people remember what Israel is all about and why the war is going on, because with all the big criticism against Israel, there are many who forget why Israel is in Gaza, why this war began,” Meron says.