Dingell says she was doxxed over Hamas rapes

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) said Monday she was doxxed three times because of her condemnation of Hamas’s use of rape against Israeli women but added she is now even more committed to calling attention to the issue.

“The very first week of this attack after Hamas, I condemned the raping of women and said that no one could condone it, and Palestinian men went after me — called me a liar, demanded I retracted it. I got doxxed over the subject,” Dingell said in an interview with CNN’s Kasie Hunt. “I have spent the last seven weeks researching the raping of women that has occurred in the Mideast. It is outrageous. I condemn it.”

Dingell said it was “stunning” to get such “vicious” attacks from people — including women — demanding she retract her statements.

“I won’t. All it did was make me angrier,” she said. “This is going to be an issue I am seriously going to take on.”

Dingell said after she was attacked for her position, she dedicated herself to researching the raping of Israeli women on Oct. 7, when Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, launched a coordinated surprise attack on Israel’s southern border, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking more than 240 hostages.

While the prevalence of sexual violence was well documented in the aftermath of Oct. 7, more reporting and first-account testimony has come to light in the last few weeks, underscoring the gruesome and vicious nature of Hamas’s use of rape as a weapon of war.

As new accounts surface, some have criticized the lack of universal public outrage at the sexual violence. Dingell implicitly echoed this concern, stressing the importance of unequivocally condemning the raping of any woman, regardless of race or ethnicity.

“Rape is a tool of war. It is violence that should be exercised against no woman — any woman: a Jewish woman, an Arab woman, a white woman, a Black woman, and I unequivocally stand against it,” she said.

Dingell said she plans to discuss the matter with House Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who faced some criticism over comments regarding Hamas’s use of rape as a weapon of war.

“I’m going to talk to Pramila. I have a call into her … I’m going to just speak for myself on this subject, and I’m raw on this subject because of the hate that I have had directed at me for speaking the truth. I will speak the truth, and I don’t care who it is. But rape is an act of violence and it becomes too often a tool in any act of war, and as women everywhere, we must stand up for women everywhere.”