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Rabat – French Minister of Gender Equality Aurore Berge has sparked a wave of backlash for her recent statements criticizing French feminist groups about their lack of response regarding the unverified claims of violence against Israeli women by Hamas during the October 7 attack.
Berge’s comments have been viewed as attempts to “instrumentalize” the situation in Gaza as well as deflecting attention from the government’s failures in providing adequate resources to address gender-based violence in France.
On Sunday, in her criticisms of the feminist groups, the minister referenced unproven and unverified allegations against Hamas, including alleged reports of women being raped, claims of which were widely circulated by Israeli and Western media following October 7.
In an interview aired by Radio J, Berge added that the French government has been “scrutinizing” the lack of clear response by French feminist organizations with regard to the Hamas attack.
She said that she refused to see France financially supporting “associations that would not be able to characterize what happened.”
In her argument to defund feminist organizations that do not take her viewpoint, she made the outlandish claims that “thousands of women were exterminated, murdered, burned, or raped,” during Hamas’ October 7 attack.
Similar unverified claims about the beheading of Israeli children and alleged sexual assaults and rape of Israelis by Hamas members have been going viral, especially among Israeli media.
The claims came after an Israeli reporter alleged that she talked to Israeli soldiers who “witnessed” decapitated babies.
Such claims were facing frequent challenges from various media outlets and reports, which pointed out the lack of material and evidence supporting the alleged acts.
Berge’s remarks faced widespread criticism, especially from feminists and feminist associations.
NousToutes among other associations responded to the minister’s remarks, claiming that they fight for all women.
“There is no ambiguity on the part of feminists, we believe all victims, we are the first to denounce all male violence against women, wherever it comes from, ” president of the NousToues Lille Amy Bah said.
The remarks also ignited condemnation from many people online, who condemned the minister’s use of unverified claims as evidence in her argument, amid Israel’s devastating war on Palestinians.
“Even worse: her own understanding of what happened on Oct 7 goes even beyond the most outlandish Israeli propaganda. In the same interview, she says “what happened on October 7th is that thousands of women were exterminated, murdered, burned, or raped,” a commenter on X wrote.
This is not the first time a French official made similar controversial remarks, using unverified claims against Hamas to justify their country’s position on the Israeli war on Gaza.
In January, Stephen Sejourne, French Foreign Affairs Minister, also raised the same unproven allegations against Hamas to justify France’s rejection of South Africa’s genocide case at the World’s Court.
“On October 7, Israel suffered a barbaric terrorist attack. 1,200 dead, mutilated, raped and children murdered,” he claimed during a heated parliament debate.
