The Dinah Project

The Dinah Project

Founded	2023 (2023)
Founder	Ruth Halperin-Kaddari
Headquarters	Jerusalem, Israel
Website	thedinahproject.org/

The Dinah Project (Hebrew: פרויקט דינה) is an organization dedicated to recognition and justice for victims of sexual violence in war, emphasizing the victims of sexual violence in the October 7 attacks.

The Dinah Project was founded in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks by legal scholar and women's rights advocate Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, military prosecutor Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas, and Israeli lawyer and judge Nava Ben-Or.^[1]

Its Advisory Board includes Dorit Beinish, Majed El Shafie, Gal Gadot, Carol Gilligan, Gadeer Mhree, Dahlia Lithwick, Deborah Lyons, Raheel Raza, Amit Soussana, and Noa Tishby.^[2]

The Dinah Project published A Quest for Justice: October 7 and Beyond in July 2025. The report "establishes that Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon, as part of a genocidal scheme and with the goal of terrorizing and dehumanizing Israeli society."^[1] It documented "widespread and systematic" sexual violence committed by Hamas at the Nova music festival, Route 232, the Nahal Oz military base, and the kibbutzes Re'im, Nir Oz, and Kfar Aza.^[3] The report was structured to indicate legal strategies for pursuing justice for victims of sexual violence in warfare.^[4] The report includes evidence and testimony from fifteen freed hostages, only one of whom had previously spoken publicly of her experiences, and noted that most of the victims had been "permanently silenced," either murdered or too traumatized to testify.^[5] It also drew from from reports of seventeen witnesses of the attacks and trauma counselors working with survivors.^[6]

Documented evidence included "bodies found with foreign objects inserted into the genitals; bodies bearing signs of genital mutilation; and bodies – mostly of women – discovered at various sites either fully or partially undressed from the waist down, with hands bound and gunshot wounds, often to the head or genitals." Victims were found "with their hands tied behind their backs and/or to structures such as trees and poles, and shot." It corroborated 2024 findings by the United Nations that Hamas had committed rape and “sexualized torture” during its assault. The report called upon the United Nations to list Hamas as an organization that employs "sexual violence as a weapon of war."^{[7][8][9][10]}

An analysis of the report by Drop Site News concluded that it "contains scant new evidence and largely aggregates existing reports, many of which have been discredited or called into question."^[11] Reem Alsalem, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, responded to the publication of A Quest for Justice with a statement saying, "It is my understanding that neither the [U.N. special commission appointed to investigate the October 7 attacks] nor any other independent human rights mechanism established that sexual or gender-based violence was committed against Israelis on or since the 7th of October as a systematic tool of war or as a tool of genocide."^[12]

The cover of A Quest for Justice features an illustration by Israeli artist Zoya Cherkassky.

Halperin-Kaddari, Zagagi-Pinhas, Ben-Or, and other representatives of The Dinah Project have discussed the October 7 attacks and sexual violence in media appearances.^{[13][14][15][16]}

In Newsweek in 2024, project member Ayelet Razin Bet Or contradicted the claims of musician Roger Waters that Hamas had committed no rape or sexual violence in the October 7 attacks.^[17]

• Sexual and gender-based violence in the October 7 attacks

• Official website