Especially striking has been the response from many so-called intersectional feminists. Many have sought to ‘contextualise’ or even deny the violence that women were subjected to, as Hamas carried out its pogrom. It seems the usual feminist call to ‘believe women’ who make allegations of sexual misconduct does not apply to those women who were raped or assaulted on that day. …

To dismiss Hamas’s sexual atrocities as an ‘unverified accusation’ is a wilful act of denialism. There have been numerous witness accounts from survivors of 7 October who saw women being gang-raped and then murdered. Some women are reported to have had their genitals mutilated or shot at. And there is photographic evidence of half-naked women being paraded around by Hamas fighters. (Pearson was duly sacked by the university for bringing the Sexual Assault Centre into disrepute.)

Yet, despite all the evidence, many Western women’s groups have remained silent on these horrific assaults.

[The explanation is clear: they are much more interested in demolishing Western culture and civilization than in dismantling the “patriarchy.” Israel is just a handy stand-in at the moment, or perhaps better put, the most accessible target for their nihilistic wrath in the moment. Those who excuse such atrocities are malignant entities within the Western body politic, whose influence should be excised. — Ed]