Sheryl Sandberg, the former Chief Operating Officer for Facebook and founder of Lean In, has called upon leaders in women’s organizations to condemn the horrific violence against Jewish women displayed on October 7.
Sandberg made her position known in a recent interview with Fox News wherein she said that politics have blinded people from condemning the “completely obvious” reality that Hamas brutally raped and murdered Jewish women during its attack on Israel in October. She had been attending an event hosted by Israel at the United Nations on Monday.
“For a really long time, sexual violence was just a part of war, and we fought long and hard to get women listened to,” Sandberg told Fox News.
“And in this moment, politics are blinding us to something that is completely obvious—no matter what side of anything you are on,” Sandberg added. “You need to be able to say that rape is unacceptable and sexual violence is unacceptable. If we don’t stand against this, we lose our humanity.”
Multiple women were brutally raped during the October 7 attack, with Israeli police officers recently sharing that they uncovered young girls’ bodies from the carnage, many of whom had broken pelvises or breast amputations. Some women were reportedly naked and placed in showers with their hands tied behind their backs. Since the horrific attack, social justice organizations, many of them feminist, have either been silent or outright in support of the Palestinians. Sandberg called them out.
“Silence is complicity,” she said. “I think they’re not going to be quiet anymore. I hope they’re not going to be quiet anymore.”
“I call on everyone to speak out,” Sandberg added. “And if the world isn’t listening to us, we’re just gonna have to speak louder. In wartime situations, you know, there is so much that is unclear. But it is very clear now what happened, and I think everyone can see the evidence and hear the evidence.”
Sandberg recalled growing up and learning of the horrific crimes committed against Jews during the Holocaust and believing such atrocities would never happen in the United States.
“You always thought it could never happen here,” she said. “I think this is intergenerational trauma for Jews—the trauma of believing that antisemitism is still out there is still rampant, and we need to be against it. We need to be against antisemitism. We need to be against Islamophobia. We need to be against racism,” she said. “We can’t allow hatred to stand against anyone.”
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.