In the days immediately following the terrorist attack Hamas perpetrated against Israel on October 7, the United Nations had a particularly lacking response. As we covered at the time, this especially includes the UN Women account, which chose to focus on claiming that "trans lesbians are lesbians" in honor of October 8's International Lesbian Day. This account, and others with the UN haven't gotten much better, close to two months later.
It took this long for the account to express concern for the women who were murdered, raped, tortured, and/or taken hostage by Hamas in such a way so as to call out the terrorist group responsible. The timeline also coincided with when the first round of hostages were finally released, and so that initial post was deleted.
"We remain alarmed by reports of gender-based violence on 7 October and call for rigorous investigation, prioritizing the rights, needs & safety of those affected," a meager post from November 25 reads. Nevertheless, comments are limited. It's also curious that the post would claim they "remain alarmed," given that they've hardly expressed alarm at all for the atrocities that Hamas perpetrated against innocent Israeli women and girls.
As reporting from the Jersualem Post explained, this wasn't a previous post referenced Hamas directly. "We condemn the brutal attacks by Hamas on October 7 and continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages," an initial post read.
It gets even more ridiculous when it comes to a statement from UN Women:
Reached for comment, UN Women told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the Instagram post had been scheduled in advance and was deleted because the message in it no longer reflected where the organization wanted to put its main focus.
“In any social media team managing multiple campaigns and during a very busy time like the one we are now with 16 Days of Activism, mistakes can occur,” a representative for UN Women said in a statement sent to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
It is stunning how transparent the entity was when addressing further how their priorities supposedly changed after some of the approximately 240 hostages have been released, in rounds, and after mistreatment. As the report further mentioned:
In particular, said the spokeswoman, Inés Esteban González, the release of some hostages over the weekend as part of a temporary truce changed the organization’s priorities.
“UN Women social media team had pre-planned days in advance [of] this particular post, but then the news broke on the release of hostages and we really wanted to focus on that,” she said. “UN Women has condemned the attacks by Hamas and the deaths of Israeli civilians from the beginning as well as called for the release of hostages, and we will continue doing so until the conflict ends. We have also called for all allegations of gender-based violence to be rigorously investigated, prioritizing the rights, needs, and safety of those affected.”
As a result of the UN Women's silence, "#MeToo_UNless_UR_A_Jew" has been trending over social media. The phrase also has its own website.
The UN has focused at great length on calling for a ceasefire and lamenting loss of life, though that appears to be very one-sided as the continously anti-Israel body specifically expresses concerns for Palestinians. That appears to be a pattern for the UN Women's Instagram account as well.
In covering the lackluster social media response from UN Women, Teri Christoph at our sister site of RedState highlighted an October 14 post that came from the entity's X account, a full week after the attack. Notably missing was any condemnation or even mention of Hamas, though the post does make mention of "the Occupied Palestinian Territories," using an anti-Israel narrative.
Another post from October 14, posted to the entity's Instagram account, used that same language, but also went even further in calling for a ceasire.
UN Women condemns the attacks on civilians in Israel & the Occupied Palestinian Territories, & is deeply alarmed by the devastating impact on civilians including women & girls.
— UN Women (@UN_Women) October 14, 2023
International Humanitarian Law & Human Rights Law must be respected & upheld.https://t.co/4gFWyxQDNc
From repeated calls for a ceasefire, to focusing on concerns for Gaza, and also only offering perspectives from those in Gaza, the UN Women's Instagram account could hardly show less concern for Israel if they tried to. From that October 14 post to the November 25 post referenced above, there have been 33 posts, and most of them specifically address Gaza.
A more recent X post from the UN Women account includes remarks from UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous, who spoke on November 22 about "The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question."
The pattern of one-sided concern still continues, though. In addition to the title of the remarks focusing on Palestinians, "Israel;" is only mentioned once in Bahous' remarks.
"It has been 47 days since the October 7th attack on Israel, where 1,200 people, many of them women and children, were killed. Each day that passes marks another 24 hours of unspeakable fear and uncertainty for the hostages, including the women and girls held by Hamas. I continue to call for their immediate and unconditional release," she said, going on to then speak about Palestinians in much more passionate terms. "It has been 47 days since the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza have spent every moment fearing for their lives, mourning their dead, and living under conditions that would break every single one of us," Bahous went on to say.
Here's what else she had to say, in case the contrast of concern was not clear enough:
Thousands of women in Gaza have lost their homes, with 45 per cent of all housing units destroyed or damaged.
Thousands more are injured, unable to find any medical support from a totally shattered health system.
One-hundred-eighty women are delivering babies every day without water, without painkillers, without anaesthesia for C-sections, without electricity for incubators, and without medical supplies. Yet, they continue caring for their children, the sick, the elderly, mixing baby formula with contaminated water, going without food so that their children can live another day, enduring multiple risks in severely overcrowded shelters. They have been robbed of their livelihoods, of their security, and of their dignity.
Women in Gaza have told us that they pray for peace, but that if peace does not come, they pray for a quick death, in their sleep, with their children in their arms. It should shame us all that any mother, anywhere, has such a prayer.
Before the current escalation, there were 650,000 women and girls in dire need of humanitarian assistance in Gaza. Now that estimate has gone up to 1.1 million, including the nearly 800,000 women internally displaced.
And while the situation of women and girls in Gaza rightly preoccupies us because of its immediacy and the overwhelming imperative to act, we are seeing an escalation in the West Bank where demolitions of public infrastructure, revocation of work permits, increased settler violence, and detentions have significantly impacted the lives and livelihoods of women.
Bahous began her remarks by calling for a permanent ceasefire, by specifically expressing "I hope that this is the beginning of a permanent truce and lasting relief for the people of Gaza and all the hostages held by Hamas." She used the same problematic language used in social media posts when it comes to the term "the Occupied Palestinian Territory."
"Every act of violence against women and girls, including sexual violence, is unequivocally condemned and must be fully investigated with the utmost priority."
— UN Women (@UN_Women) November 27, 2023
- @unwomenchief during her brief to the #SecurityCouncil.
Full brief: https://t.co/V7EBYhhBMC pic.twitter.com/H2x47J0KZV
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