Source : Perth Now news
Grace Tame has apologised for the harm caused after comments she made about allegations of sexual violence against Israeli women during the October 7 attacks triggered strong backlash.
The former Australian of the Year issued the apology in an Instagram video on Thursday, months after an ABC Radio interview in which she referred to claims about the rape of Israeli women as having been “debunked” and rejected what she described as “propaganda”.
In her latest remarks, Ms Tame stressed that she supports survivors of sexual violence in all circumstances and regretted not clarifying her position earlier.
“There’s something I’ve wanted to clarify for a while which I regret not clarifying sooner. I stand for survivors of sexual violence everywhere no matter who they are,” Ms Tame said.
“Comments I made on ABC Radio in March of this year were misinterpreted to mean that I disbelieve Israeli survivors of sexual violence.
“This is not the case. I always have and always will stand with survivors of sexual violence.”
Ms Tame’s original comments were made during a March interview on ABC Radio with Hamish Macdonald, when she was asked about attending a protest against the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
At that rally in February, she led chants of “from Gadigal to Gaza, globalise the intifada” and also used the event to denounce the Israeli President.
During the radio interview, she pushed back on discussion around reports of sexual violence during the Hamas attacks.
“I’m not going to sink to the level of entertaining any kind of propaganda,” she said at the time.
“Those things have been debunked. Look, violence is, let’s be real, violence is happening on both sides. But this is not a fair fight. We’re not talking about two equal cohorts, even marginally.
“That’s a tactic of the bad faith actors is to try to trip people up, to get them to condemn this and condemn that.”
The interview drew strong criticism from Jewish organisations and other commentators, who argued her remarks dismissed or undermined evidence and survivor accounts relating to sexual violence on October 7.
In her Thursday video, Ms Tame maintained that she was not rejecting accounts from individual Israeli victims, while also disputing broader claims about the scale of sexual violence on October 7.
“Human Rights Watch was unable to find evidence to support the claim that Israeli women were raped en masse on October 7, 2023,” Ms Tame said.
“However, I do not deny the legitimate accusations of rape made by individual Israeli women, including accounts of gang rape. I do not hate Israelis. I do not hate Jewish people.
“I abhor the crimes of the State of Israel. I believe Israeli survivors. I believe Jewish survivors as I believe all survivors. While the intention of my remarks was not to imply otherwise, I acknowledge and sincerely apologise for any harm their mischaracterisation has caused.”
Claims about sexual violence during the October 7 attacks have been closely examined.
While some early claims were later challenged or withdrawn, a United Nations report released in March 2024 found that sexual violence occurred in multiple locations during the attacks.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks in multiple locations across the Gaza periphery, including rape and gang rape, in at least three locations,” the report said.
