Hillary Clinton Delivers ‘Absolute Condemnation’ of Rape as Weapon of War in UN Speech: ‘No Excuses’
Hillary Clinton delivered strong and unequivocal remarks to the United Nations on the use of rape as a weapon of war Monday, saying the brutal tactic must be met with “absolute condemnation.”
Aviva Klompas, an engagement strategist for Jewish philanthropies and former UN speech writer, tweeted part of Clinton’s address to the UN session on sexual and gender-based violence.
“As you well know, many women and girls were attacked brutally by Hamas on October 7,” Clinton said. “And they have testified to the gender-based violence that they both experienced and witnessed. As a global community, we must respond to weaponized sexual violence wherever it happens with absolute condemnation. There can be no justifications and no excuses. Rape as a weapon of war is a crime against humanity.”
MSNBC also aired a clip of former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg making remarks at the same conference.
“It’s inexcusable when those who have the capacity to make a difference, don’t. We call upon the entire U.N. to formally condemn Hamas for the rapes, make sure there is a full and fair investigation, and hold the terrorists accountable,” Sandberg said.
Sandberg penned an op-ed for CNN and released a video on the Hamas rapes nearly two weeks ago, where she said, “The silence on this from too many is deafening.”
Women’s groups and progressives have been under the microscope recently for failing to strongly condemn the rapes of Israeli women perpetrated by Hamas during the October 7 surprise attack.
Over the weekend, CNN’s Dana Bash confronted Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), asking why “progressive women” have been “downright silent” about Hamas’ use of rape as a weapon of war. Jayapal responded that denunciation must be “balanced,” since Israel has blood on its hands with its bombing campaign in Gaza.
Bash pointed out that bombing Palestinian civilians was a travesty, then added, “you don’t see Israeli soldiers raping Palestinian women.”
Jaypal responded,“I don’t want this to be the hierarchies of oppression.”
The congresswoman received vast criticism on X (formerly Twitter) from members on both the right and left of the political spectrum.
Watch the clip above via MSNBC.
