Some women's groups silent as top progressive Jayapal downplays rapes by Hamas
Some prominent women’s organizations say "rape and mutilation must be universally condemned without equivocation," but many other women’s groups have yet to speak up after a Democratic lawmaker was accused of downplaying Hamas terrorists’ sexual violence against Israeli women.
Credible accounts of rape and brutal sexual assault were immediately reported in the wake of Hamas’ terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7. However, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., outraged many when she was asked about the atrocities on CNN over the weekend.
"It’s horrific, and I think that rape is horrific and sexual assault is horrific. I think that it happens in war situation, terrorist organizations like Hamas, obviously, are using these as tools. However, we have to be balanced about bringing in the outrages against Palestinians," Jayapal said.
CNN’s Dana Bash pointed out that Israeli soldiers aren’t raping Palestinians, to which the Democratic lawmaker fired back, "I don’t want this to be the hierarchy of oppressions."
Jayapal also insisted "we cannot say that one war crime deserves another" and accused Israel of failing to comply with international humanitarian law.
Independent Women's Forum vice president Victoria Coley blasted Jayapal.
"Women’s bodies are not battlefields. Rape and mutilation must be universally condemned without equivocation, especially from a woman sitting in the U.S. House of Representatives. Those who orchestrated and carried out the mass rapes in Israel on October 7 should be brought to justice for war crimes. It is time to take action. This is not a partisan issue. It is not a political issue. It is a matter of respecting universal human rights. The violence and degradation we saw on October 7 is simply inexcusable," Coley told Fox News Digital.
"It’s revolting to see a sitting Member of Congress, a woman no less, who can’t even simply condemn the mass rape of women. This isn’t hard. Or it isn’t unless you're really concerned about not offending those who support the terrorists," Coley continued. "She has no regard for the rights of Israeli women, and her victim blaming of Israel in recent days is shameful. Jayapal has made it clear that women’s rights are not universal human rights, they are to be afforded only to those women who see the world in the sick, twisted way she does. It is chilling to think about what nonsense the U.S. House Progressive Caucus will put forward next."
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Feminists for Life of America told Fox News Digital that "rape is rape" and it "does not matter the circumstances or the perpetrator, rape is never justified."
Concerned Women for America CEO and president Penny Nance also scolded Jayapal.
"Rep. Jayapal’s comments are reprehensible and her hatred of Jews clearly evident," Nance told Fox News Digital.
"I was recently invited to watch the video of the horrific actions of the Hamas terrorists on October 7 and there is no description for the evil that was perpetrated on innocent women and children. The footage collected from GoPro body cams showed the despicable desecration of young women’s bodies and we have the testimony of women seeing their friends gang raped and literally murdered during the act. We have coroners’ reports," Nance added. "How dare these ‘Squad’ members and phony women’s activists at the U.N. and Congress claim to protect women’s rights."
Nance added that "abuse of women in war is a declared human rights violation," and doesn’t believe Jewish women are being respected.
"What happened to ‘believe all women?’ Apparently, it doesn’t apply to Jews," Nance said. "The Squad and other terrorist sycophants are so invested in their sick ideology and hatred of Israel and the Jews that they have no credibility with anyone, especially women."
Many other women’s groups have remained stone silent. Fox News Digital reached out to over 20 other prominent women’s organizations that did not respond.
"The Five" co-hosts expressed shock at the silence from women’s groups on Monday, focusing on Planned Parenthood, Women’s March, Democrat Women’s Caucus, Emily’s List and National Organization for Women.
"They marched in lockstep in their condemnation of all sorts of people in the Me Too movement, right? ‘Believe all women,’ these are the same groups, though, who, if you go back to the late 1990s, they all walked away from defending Monica Lewinsky. They all will turn a blind eye to something if they think it will help their political position or will protect them from condemnation from somebody like Jayapal," Fox News host Dana Perino said.
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Judge Jeanine Pirro was stunned that some of the groups didn’t even bother to respond.
"I am shocked, because for the longest time… I was part of that original movement which was fighting for rape victims, making sure that rape victims didn’t have to take a lie detector test, making sure that a defense attorney could not say to the jury that, ‘Well, she was dressed that way, she deserved it,’ I mean, I was there in the beginning," Pirro said.
"But then, all of the sudden about 10 years ago, we had this Me Too movement, so they just discovered the abuse and the suppression of women," she continued. "This new progressive, so-called progressive group, is really a regressive one. They are taking back the decades of progress that we’ve made."
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Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.