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Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, chair of the Civil Commission on the Oct. 7 crimes, presented the commission's report on sexual violence committed by Hamas during the October 7 massacre and against hostages in captivity to the United Nations Human Rights Council's Annual Discussion on Women's Rights in Geneva on Friday, as reported by the Jerusalem Post.

The report, titled "Silenced No More," was prepared with the cooperation of leading international experts in international law and human rights and has since been presented to governments, international organizations, academic institutions, and policymakers worldwide, according to the commission.

Coverage Comparison

The Jerusalem Post provided extensive coverage of the presentation, including multiple articles detailing the report's findings, Elkayam-Levy's personal motivation, and the international response. The coverage emphasized the urgency of acknowledging the documented atrocities and preserving the historical record against denial.

In an opinion piece written by Elkayam-Levy and published in the Jerusalem Post on July 2, she described her presence in Geneva at the invitation of UN Watch, where she delivered a speech to the Human Rights Council to bring forward the findings of the commission's archive and report. She noted that many had asked why she would bring Israeli victims' voices to institutions that have "too often struggled to acknowledge their suffering." Her answer: "I went because truth matters. It matters most especially where it is contested."

Another article, published on June 27, reported the presentation itself, detailing the 13 distinct patterns of abuse identified in the report, including rape, gang rape, sexual torture, deliberate burning, and intentional mutilation of victims' faces and genitals.

A feature article on June 19 offered a personal portrait of Elkayam-Levy, describing her role as the commission's principal author and her reaction when the report was released on May 12. The piece noted that the 298-page document concludes that sexual terror was central to Hamas's war strategy.

Key Claims

  • Elkayam-Levy presented the findings of the commission's report to the UN Human Rights Council's Annual Discussion on Women's Rights in Geneva on Friday.
  • The report, "Silenced No More," was prepared with the cooperation of leading international experts in international law and human rights.
  • The commission identified 13 distinct patterns of abuse, including rape, gang rape, sexual torture, deliberate burning, and intentional mutilation of victims' faces and genitals.
  • The commission coined the term "kinocidal sexual violence" to describe "the deliberate use of sexual violence to torture families and maximize their pain and suffering."
  • The report found recurring patterns of sexual violence, torture, humiliation, and degradation across multiple locations, leading investigators to conclude that these crimes reflected a wider operational method rather than the actions of a few individuals acting alone.
  • Social media was used by terrorists to maximize pain and suffering, with videos and photographs of sexual violence and torture being uploaded onto digital platforms.
  • The commission reviewed more than 10,000 photographs and video segments representing approximately 18,000 minutes of footage, and conducted 430 in-depth interviews with survivors, former hostages, eyewitnesses, first responders, medical professionals, bereaved families, and others connected to the events of Oct. 7 and its aftermath.
Elkayam-Levy described the report's findings: "We documented crimes so brutal that existing legal frameworks struggle to fully describe them." She also spoke about the denial of Hamas's sexual violence, condemning the worldwide reaction to initial reports: "We encountered silence, hesitation, and at times active and aggressive denial."

She warned that avoiding the reality of the report was harmful not only to victims but to future generations. "This report is not about the past. It is about the future. It reveals some of the most dangerous developments in contemporary terrorism," she said, adding that other groups were already "studying, imitating, and refining" Hamas's brutality.

Danae Marx-Callaf, director of international communications and one of the four co-founders of the Civil Commission, said the report shifts the conversation from "whether it happened" to "what are the consequences." She added, "Another important thing is recognition of the victims. The report will go around the world to different policy makers and not remain just the knowledge of a few in the world."

Elkayam-Levy, an expert in international law, human rights, and feminist legal theory, serves as a Sophie Davis Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She also wrote that the commission's work was "never solely about accountability. It was about preserving the historical record in the face of denial, distortion, and doubt, and ensuring that victims' voices would not be lost to silence or inaction."