"The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg defended silence from women's groups since the Israel-Hamas war began after co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin demanded more groups speak up and condemn Hamas' brutal sexual violence.
"I am still devastated — we’re two months since this war has been underway — by silence from women’s groups in this country about rape being used as an act of war in this attack," Griffin said.
Griffin cited a recent video posted by Sheryl Sandberg, who wrote an op-ed for CNN that called the "silence" on Hamas' sexual violence "deafening."
"The fact that sexual violence was used against Israeli women, and the major women’s groups in this country have not come out and denounced it. This weekend, Sheryl Sandberg put out a gripping video calling for it. That violates every rule of warfare. It is the height of immorality and the fact that the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment has been silent, the U.N. Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women has been silent, and the international MeToo movement has been silent," Griffin said.
ISRAELI POLICE SAY EXTREME SEXUAL VIOLENCE, RAPE BY HAMAS TERRORISTS WAS ‘SYSTEMATIC’
Goldberg chimed in and suggested that the groups have been silent because they don't want to exacerbate the problem.
"Perhaps the reason they’ve been silent is for the same reason that you just described," she said. "Well, they don’t want to exacerbate it."
"Listen, I know that this is really hard for people to sit still with. So, right now, we’re glad people are coming out, and that’s what we’re going to keep talking about because we want to encourage — you know, the bottom line truly is this: You don’t have a choice, you have to end this because at some point, it’s going to dawn on everybody there that no one’s leaving. No one’s leaving the land so the question has to become, how do we live together on this land? That is all that people should be thinking about so that this does not continue to happen," she continued.
Sandberg wrote in her op-ed published on Nov. 20 that several witnesses have described the actions of Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. "An eyewitness has recounted the horror of watching a fellow concert-goer being gang-raped, then murdered," she wrote.
"We have come so far in believing survivors of rape and assault in so many situations, yet this time, many are ignoring the stories that these bodies tell us about how these women spent the last moments of their lives," she continued.
Sandberg argued that the silence on these crimes was a major step backward for women.
"We must denounce these rapes in every conversation, at every rally, and on signs held on every street corner. We must forget our conflicting politics and remember our common humanity," she wrote.
Griffin has also called out Squad Democrats for claiming Israel was responsibile for an explosion at a hospital in Gaza.
"I want to say shame on Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar because they played a role in the fact that this agreement, with the Arab nations that he [President Biden] was going to meet with fell apart. We now know that this hospital attack that took place, Biden said he is very confident it was not the Israelis that did it. It was likely Islamic Jihad and that's because of U.S. Department of Defense intelligence and footage analyzed," Griffin said.
