Washington, D.C. — Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet joined U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) to introduce a bipartisan resolution to condemn Hamas terrorists for using sexual and gender-based violence as a weapon of war against Israelis during their attack on Israel on October 7th.
“On October 7th, Israel was attacked by Hamas terrorists who sought to destroy it. Even in a world already wracked by violence, the medieval forms of terrorism Hamas inflicted that day were brutal, including the rape of innocent mothers and daughters,” said Bennet. “As the full extent of Hamas’ actions that day come to light, we have an obligation to condemn all senseless and horrific attacks on Israeli women and girls. With this bipartisan resolution, we are standing united with the victims of this brutal violence and condemning sexual violence everywhere.”
“The deliberate use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war by Hamas terrorists against the people of Israel is atrocious,” said Shaheen. “Footage and first-hand accounts of the horrors that happened to Israeli women, men and children on October 7th demonstrate that these actions – which are war crimes under international convention – were intended to torture, humiliate and oppress the victims. I’m proud to join with my colleagues, including Senator Britt, to introduce a bipartisan resolution that strongly condemns the barbaric attacks of October 7th and the sexual and gender-based violence carried out by Hamas against the people of Israel. The international community must continue to stand against rape as a weapon of war in all conflict settings.”
“When I visited Israel with a bipartisan group of my colleagues in the wake of October 7, we were shown the footage of the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists. As a mother, as a daughter, as a sister, and as an American, I was absolutely horrified by the acts of pure evil carried out against innocent Israeli women and young girls. These reprehensible, barbaric acts of sexual violence have no place in our world and must be unequivocally and universally condemned. I am proud to stand alongside Senator Shaheen and our Senate colleagues in condemning Hamas’ evil and making it clear that the United States of America will not stand for these atrocities anywhere,” said Britt.
“I condemn in the strongest terms possible the horrific and barbaric acts of rape and sexual violence committed on October 7th by Hamas. For centuries, rape, sexual mutilation, sexual violence have played a grotesque role in the subjugation and suppression of the Jewish people. Rape has been used as a weapon of war for centuries — a deliberate form of torture that serves to dehumanize and terrorize not just women, but the entire community. This bipartisan resolution tells the world that Congress will not stay silent in the face of these atrocities. Rather, we will denounce them and will not rest until there is accountability for these evil crimes against humanity,” said Gillibrand.
“Some events are so evil they cannot be ignored or explained away—they should unite us in condemnation, speaking in one, human voice,” said Fischer. “And yet, in the wake of mass rape on October 7th, human rights activists became terror apologists, while women’s groups turned their backs on thousands of Israeli women. Every organization that has denied or ignored Hamas’s war crimes must speak out and help bring justice to the perpetrators.”
Following the October 7th terrorist attacks on Israel, Bennet has worked with colleagues to support Israel and protect civilian lives in Gaza. In the days after the attack, Bennet wrote to the technology company leaders to urge them to stop the spread of false and misleading content related to the ongoing conflict. He also joined members of the Senate Task Force for Combatting Antisemitism to call on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation to protect Jewish Americans from antisemitic attacks and came together with over 100 bicameral, bipartisan colleagues to raise concerns about the role cryptocurrency has played in financing terrorist organizations like Hamas.
In addition to Bennet, Shaheen, Britt, Gillibrand and Fischer, U.S. Senators John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Angus King (I-Maine), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) also cosponsored the resolution.
The text of the resolution is available HERE.