Bring them home! Or why we so urgently need International Women’s Day

Violence against us women has always been a tool of war: abduction, torture, humiliation, rape, being rejected, being devalued, not being heard — all of this is part of the brutal “normality” of wartime.

My grandmother reported on this shortly before her death as a former refugee. Silence for decades, never reporting it, that was the norm. “Nobody cares, it’s inappropriate, it’s your fault too.” That’s what many women were told during the Second World War. Silence!

Children born of such rapes died, had no chance or were unseen. Silence!

On October 7, 2023, the horror that was and is used as a weapon of war in too many parts of the world was tragically repeated. This time in Israel: more than 200 people were kidnapped in southern Israel by Hamas. Humiliated and killed on camera. Including many women, girls, little girls.

Relatives are still waiting for a sign of life. Where is the mother, the neighbor? The women who danced to music at the big event, some of whom maintained close friendships with Arab neighbors and were connected with them too.

Those who believed and still believe in peace and coexistence — with their Muslim friends who were and are for peace.

A few women and girls and children were released, but they reported terrible things, especially about acts of torture and rape. When the remaining hostages are released, they might come back pregnant or with children. I can only hope that they will be able to talk. Never again: Silence!

Do we need the 8th of March? This International Women’s Day? Yes! We need it until the last of us is free, from the hands of Hamas or other captors.