UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women Downplays Evidence of October 7 Sexual Assaults

UN's Reem Alsalem Claims "No Independent Investigation Found Rape," Contradicting UN's Own Findings

On November 14, 2024, Reem Alsalem—the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls—sparked outrage by declaring “No independent investigation found that rape took place on the 7th of October.” This statement directly contradicts the UN’s own 2024 report documenting sexual violence during Hamas’s attack on Israel.

Alsalem has also accused Israel of “femi-genocide” against Palestinian women, revealing what critics call a systematic double standard that fundamentally betrays her mandate to protect all women from violence.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon responded swiftly, stating: “Any UN representative who denies Hamas rape must be removed from their post. Period.” He called her remarks “a moral disgrace, an insult to the victims and their families, and a violation of every basic international standard.”

Credit: Danny Danon on X

Contradicting the UN’s Own Investigation

Alsalem’s claim that “no independent investigation found that rape took place” contradicts Pramila Patten’s April 2024 UN report. Patten, the UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, led a mission that reviewed over 5,000 photos and approximately 50 hours of footage, concluding there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the October 7 attacks in multiple locations including “rape and gang rape in at least three locations.” By July 2025, fifteen hostages—thirteen women and two men—had provided first-hand testimony about sexual violence they experienced or witnessed in captivity.

Alsalem’s November 2024 statement follows a consistent pattern of dismissing evidence of sexual violence against Israeli women. The watchdog group HR Voices identified Alsalem among the “Chief Gatekeepers of Hypocrisy,” documenting that she “refused to unequivocally condemn” Hamas for the sexual abuse of Israeli women when it counted and “initially dismissed” it all as disinformation.

Credit: Reem Amsalem on X

The “Femi-Genocide” Double Standard

Critics have noted that while demanding impossible proof for Israeli victims, Alsalem has made sweeping declarations about Israeli actions without similar evidence. In February 2024, Alsalem co-authored a report with Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on Palestinian territories, alleging sexual abuse of Palestinian women by Israeli forces. When questioned by Israel’s Channel 13 about her sources for these serious accusations, Alsalem claimed she had obtained “reasonably credible information” but said she could not cite her sources other than the alleged Hamas front group, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.

UN Special Rapporteur On Violence Against Women and Girls. Credit: Sans_Concession on X

A Broader UN Problem

The Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs documented how UN officials systematically denied the sexual assaults and rapes that took place on October 7, explaining that the phenomenon mirrors Holocaust denial tactics.

The controversy raises fundamental questions about whether UN human rights mechanisms can function impartially when officials responsible for protecting women from violence apply radically different evidentiary standards based on victims’ identity—ultimately weaponizing their positions for political purposes while betraying the mandate they were appointed to uphold.