Seeking justice for Oct. 7 survivors
‘I can’t explain how heavy a body becomes when it is dead,” she shared with preternatural calm. It was my first meeting with Yuval Raphael, a 23-year-old with a clear sense of mission, and an undeniable presence.
Despite the pain she carried, her motivation and focus were obvious, especially in her expressive eyes. As she spoke, everyone in the room was captivated by her unwavering voice, which hinted at both readiness and a profound sense of purpose.
Yuval survived the Supernova massacre by hiding in the far corner of the public bomb shelter just outside of Kibbutz Be’eri. We met in February. Four months had passed since October 7 and she was finally ready to tell her story to a team of lawyers and human rights advocates.
For the past seven months, the media spotlight has intensely highlighted the suffering of hostages and victims of Hamas’s sexual violence. However, it’s vital to acknowledge the thousands of survivors who are also struggling, and deserve recognition and justice. From the onset of this conflict, the Jerusalem Institute of Justice (JIJ) has dedicated itself to supporting these Israelis, focusing on their recovery and restitution as a crucial part of our nation’s path forward. Their stories and their healing are fundamental to the fabric of our community.
Approximately 50 festival attendees sought shelter with Yuval, thinking that the small concrete structure would provide safety from the constant barrage of rockets. Instead, this small shelter became their tomb, as the terrorists strafed the inside with bullets at regular intervals and threw grenades. During their first infiltration, Yuval became trapped under the dead body of another young woman. There she would stay for 8 hours, playing dead.
“Every time we [those who were still alive] raised our heads, we couldn’t understand why there were less and less people in the bomb shelter. We thought the terrorists were taking the dead bodies. We didn’t realize it was because of the grenades, blowing up their bodies.” Of the 50 people who sought shelter with Yuval, only 12 survived long enough to be rescued – not by the IDF, but by the father of Nitzan, another young woman hiding in the bomb shelter.
IN MARCH, Yuval joined the JIJ legal team at the UN Headquarters in Geneva, where she engaged extensively with a broad array of ambassadors from around the world, testifying before diplomats of various nations. As she told her story yet again, this time before a distinguished audience, I was haunted by the parallels to my own experience in Gaza in the summer of 2001.
I was 19 years old, stationed in Gaza as a Givati combat soldier. This was well before Israel’s 2005 Disengagement, a time when our military bases, strung like vigilant sentinels along the Gazan border, were the linchpin of security. These outposts were more than just strategic positions: They were our frontline defense – critical for overseeing border crossings, curtailing the flow of arms, and swiftly countering threats.
On a hot summer night, two terrorists penetrated our base, killing my friend Tzachi, along with my commander and his medic. I was 300 meters away and heard about the attack on the radio. My friends who witnessed their murder directly stood inside the first circle of trauma and have struggled ever since to reach the normal milestones of adulthood.
My first brush with Hamas came 23 years ago when I was 19, two weeks before the 9/11 attacks in America. Since then, Hamas’s leaders have amassed a combined net worth of $11 billion. They came for Yuval when she was 23, leaving shrapnel under her skin, and a mind full of nightmares. Hamas leaders have vowed to do this again. As Hamas spokesperson Ghazi Hamad stated, “We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do it again and again. The Al-Aqsa flood [October 7] is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth.”
THE HARROWING experiences recounted by survivors like Yuval Raphael underscore the urgent need for accountability and justice. Initiatives such as legal action against the perpetrators of Hamas are not only crucial for providing closure and restitution to the survivors, but also for upholding the principles of international law.
At a time when the International Court of Justice draws a skewed moral equivalency between an unprovoked slaughter initiated by the leaders of a terrorist organization and the defensive actions of a democratic country, and when the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announces plans to issue arrest warrants against Israeli leaders despite Israel’s strong and independent legal system, it is even more crucial that the voices of the victims are recognized and heard.
By holding accountable those responsible for heinous acts of terrorism, we not only honor the resilience of the survivors, but also send a clear message that such atrocities will not be tolerated. It is imperative that we support efforts to pursue justice, whether through domestic legal mechanisms or international institutions like the International Criminal Court in The Hague, in order to break the cycle of violence and build a safer, more just world for future generations.
The writer serves as the director of international law and public diplomacy at the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, an Israeli organization with special consultative status at the United Nations. The institute has represented survivors of terrorism, human trafficking and discrimination for 20 years. Before attending law school and joining the Israel Bar Association, the writer served as a combat soldier in the IDF.
STOP FUNDING HAMAS THROUGH UNRWA!
Facts that you must know about UNRWA.
Did you know that the UN has a separate agency that only serves Palestinians? There is no other people group in the world that gets their own UN agency. This organization is now on the 76th year of its original 3-year mandate. Instead of helping Palestinians settle down and build peaceful communities, for decades UNRWA has used money from generous Western donors to perpetuate the conflict under the guise of “humanitarianism.”
Did you know that UNRWA created its own definition of “refugee” status? In the rest of the world, refugees are people who are forced to flee their country of origin. They are served by the UN’s Refugee agency, which helps them gain citizenship and adjust to their new lives in new places. But UNRWA doesn’t want Palestinians to adjust to reality. If they did, UNRWA would go out of business! Instead it extends “refugee” status to the original refugees’ great-great-grandchildren, and beyond. Thanks to UNRWA, there are scores of Palestinian millionaires who hold multiple foreign passports, yet are still
Did you know that UNRWA runs 278 schools for 291,000 Gazan children? In these schools, the UN teaches Palestinian children that they are “refugees,” even though they are Palestinians living on Palestinian land. UNRWA praises terrorists who kill Jews, celebrates martyrdom, and teaches students that one day Israel will be destroyed.
Did you know that UNRWA almost exclusively hires Palestinians? No Jews allowed! Every other UN agency is staffed by people from around the world. This helps UN agencies maintain genuine “neutrality” in conflict zones that are full of political tension. But UNRWA is unique. Over 99% of its employees are Palestinian nationals. According to Israeli intelligence, approximately 15% of adult males in Gaza have ties to Hamas. But within the staff of UNRWA, it’s 23%. A greater percentage of UN employees in Gaza are Hamas-affiliated than the general populace of Gaza!
NOW is the time to radically restructure UNRWA to stop the ongoing radicalization of Palestinian society. Why? Because Palestinians deserve better than UNRWA.
Help us meet this moment. Sign our petition to STOP FUNDING UNRWA until and unless the agency is radically reformed and restructured.
What happens when well-meaning Western donors feed money to a UN agency that turns a blind eye to terrorism? The numbers tell the story.
On October 7th:
- 133 UNRWA school graduates invaded Israel to murder and kidnap Israeli civilians,
- 12 UNRWA staff directly participated in the massacre,
- 2 UNRWA teachers held hostages captive in their own homes,
- 30 UNRWA teachers publicly celebrated the violence on social media, while
- 1,200 UNRWA staff quietly helped Hamas with cars, weapons, money, information, and hideouts.
In the wake of these damning revelations, 14 donor countries, led by the United States, have paused their funding to UNRWA, demanding an investigation. It’s a good first step, but this call for an “investigation” could be an invitation to sweep UNRWA’s problems under the rug. Fire a few people, blame the “few bad apples,” rename a few departments, and turn the money spigot back on. Why? Because “UNRWA is the only option.”
UNRWA is the only option because Hamas made it that way. UNRWA developed a monopoly on aid delivery in Gaza because it is the only aid agency in the world that has been willing to play by Hamas’ rules, which are: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
- When Hamas puts its members on the payroll, UNRWA allows it because Hamas isn’t recognized as a terrorist group by the UN!
- When Hamas stores rockets, grenades, and suicide belts inside UN schools, shelters, and clinics, UNRWA pretends not to see.
- When Hamas fighters jump onto aid trucks to steal their contents, UNRWA claims they’re just providing security.
You understand the problem now. You see that we can’t waste this moment. Now is the time to radically restructure UNRWA to stop the ongoing radicalization of Palestinian society.
Why? Because Palestinians deserve better than UNRWA. They deserve food, medicine, and shelter delivered by transparent organizations that are not routinely infiltrated by terrorists. They deserve to receive humanitarian aid and not see most of it stolen by Hamas. They deserve schools that promote coexistence with Jews and other minorities in the Middle East.
Help us meet this moment. Sign our petition to STOP FUNDING UNRWA until and unless the agency is radically reformed and restructured.
Click the button below if you wish to support our ongoing efforts.