Female leaders reflect on tragedy of Oct. 7, look for a path forward
Five prominent Israeli women leaders participated in a panel focusing on the tragic events of October 7 and how to chart a path forward, at The Jerusalem Post Women Leaders Summit at the Google for Startups Campus in Tel Aviv last week.
Panel participants included Shari Mendes, founder and CEO of Israel Lemonade Fund; Prof. Eilat Shinar, director of National Blood Services, MDA, Israel; Talia Tzour Avner, chief of staff, Jewish National Fund USA; Amalia Adler-Waxman, SVP, global head of sustainability and head of corporate affairs of international markets, Teva; and Ayelet Razin Bet Or, former director at the Authority for Advancement of the Status of Women, a lawyer and an expert on victims’ rights and gender equality.
Since October, Razin Bet Or has led the Dina Project 7.10, an expert group advocating for the victims of gender-based violence on 7.10 and towards the hostages.
Mendes served in a special army reserve unit at the Shura base that was trained to deal with all tasks related to deceased female soldiers. It was her job to accompany the bodies through the identification process as well as prepare them for burial.
The days and weeks that followed were unimaginable in both scale and horror. Mendes’s unit is composed of civilian women, not forensic professionals, who were suddenly witnesses to instances of terrible physical
mutilation and cruelty. It soon became clear in Israel that there was a pattern of brutality and sexual violence that was deliberately aimed at women by Hamas terrorists.
“We took time in this room [where the bodies were prepared for burial] to give the young women soldiers honor and love,” said Mendes. “Because we realized that they could have been our children. We also realized we would probably be the last ones to see them, and it meant an awful lot to us to pay homage to them – to love them.”
Razin Bet Or discussed the silence of global women’s organizations in response to the horrors of October 7 and the attacks on women.
“If you’re pro-Palestine, if you’re pro-Israel, it doesn’t matter. If you do not condemn this, if you don’t say in a clear voice, ‘This is wrong. This shouldn’t have happened,’ then you are setting us back years and
years .... Women’s Day was celebrated in the UN a few weeks ago. What do we have to celebrate? What achievements do we have as women if we have 19 women hostages in captivity?”
Talia Tzour Avner stated that the Jewish National Fund-USA has been working in this region for the past two decades to populate and strengthen the communities. Since October 7, JNF-USA has been mapping each displaced community to understand their needs, rebuild the communities, and enable residents to return to their homes.
“One message I want to give everyone: After October 7, we felt alone and attacked on every possible front worldwide. I want to tell you that we are not alone. We have a good American-Jewish community, we have a strong JNFUSA behind us, and a strong Zionist community, not just Jews, who are supporting us and who are with us.”
Adler-Waxman said Teva launched the Support the Soul program designed to help Israelis heal and restore normality and optimism following October 7, through training and supporting professional caregivers, strengthening resilience centers, implementing technology for the use of trauma treatment, and triggering professional and public awareness.
“My call to action,” she said, “aims at stakeholders that can help join the cause of treating trauma in Israel – to join and help us make a difference that will go a long way in our journey to heal.”
Shinar saluted the women who contributed to the war effort beginning on October 7, particularly the thousands who donated blood. Usually, 25% of the blood donations come from women. Once so many men were called to IDF service, she said, the percentage of women who donated blood rose to 52%.
She added that a second group that deserves a great deal of credit is those who donated breast milk to the National Human Milk Bank, which is usually used to provide milk to premature babies who are hospitalized and need human milk.
When the war started, she explained, calls came from families where nursing mothers had been kidnapped or murdered, or from women soldiers who couldn’t express milk to feed their babies.
“Since October 7, with the financial support of the Health Ministry, we have provided one and a half tons of milk,” she said.