BONUS - Cochav Elkayam-Levy: Hamas weaponized rape and humiliation on Oct. 7

In this powerful and emotionally charged episode of The Times of Israel's What Matters Now, host Amanda Borchel-Dan speaks with Kochav Elkayam-Levy, lead researcher and legal scholar behind the groundbreaking final report on sexual and gender-based violence committed by Hamas during the October 7th attacks. The report, the result of two years of meticulous documentation, compiles over 10,000 visual testimonies and 430 filmed interviews from victims, survivors, and eyewitnesses across 15 nations. Elkayam-Levy details how Hamas systematically weaponized rape, humiliation, and sexual torture—not as isolated acts, but as strategic tools of war, with 13 distinct patterns of abuse documented across multiple locations and phases: the initial attack, abduction, and prolonged captivity. The report also breaks new ground by explicitly addressing the sexual violence inflicted on men, a rarely discussed aspect of wartime trauma. Despite the psychological toll on the research team, the work was driven by a moral imperative to bear witness, reclaim truth, and combat denial and anti-Semitism. The team’s goal is global recognition of the report’s findings, with hopes of influencing international law, justice proceedings at the ICC, and national prosecutions in Israel. Ultimately, the episode underscores the report’s role not only as historical testimony but as a vital framework for future accountability in cases of sexual violence in conflict.