Welcoming UN decision to blacklist Hamas, Michal Herzog says terror group ‘used rape a weapon’

First Lady Michal Herzog welcomes the United Nations’ decision to add Hamas to its official “blacklist” of countries and groups that commit sexual crimes in violent conflicts, calling the move “a long time coming.”

Herzog, who has been a leading voice in raising awareness of Hamas’s sexual violence since October 7, says the evidence has been clear for months. She points to an early 2024 report by the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, that documented Hamas’s deliberate and systematic crimes.

“The world must understand: Hamas uses rape as a weapon,” Herzog says. “These atrocities — rape, gang rape, genital mutilation, sexual abuse in captivity — are not incidental. They are deliberate, premeditated and systematic tools of terror.”

Her comments come a week after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres formally placed Hamas on the blacklist for the first time, while also warning that Israel itself could be added in the future if allegations of misconduct by its forces are substantiated.