May Golan, Minister for the Advancement of the Status of Women of Israel, said Saturday that she had approached former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama to condemn attacks on Israeli women by Hamas on October 7 — and been met with complete silence.
Golan, a member of the ruling Likud party, spoke to host Erel Segal on Israel’s Channel 14, in the course of an interview about the broader failure of women’s rights organizations to condemn allegations of sexual violence against women during the terror attack.
The following exchange ensued (translated from Hebrew):
השרה מאי גולן נגד מישל אובמה: "שלחתי לה עדות אותנטית של זוועה, אנחנו יודעים שהפנייה התקבלה. היא לא בעמדה פוליטית, היא בהחלט יכולה להגיב - דום שתיקה ממנה"#ישראל_נלחמת@ErelSegal @GolanMay pic.twitter.com/2SvNwSzQeR
— עכשיו 14 (@Now14Israel) December 2, 2023
Golan: It’s impossible to trust these institutions any more. From my perspective, they don’t have any relevance anymore. And that’s what I want to say. When Michelle Obama, wife of Barack Hussein Obama, said, in public, went out against Boko Haram, and called to return the girls that were kidnapped by Boko Haram, we had, here, a moment of silence, for a sigh ––
Host: She said nothing? She said nothing.
Golan: Not a word. And we approached her, I tell you
Host: Oh, this is new. You approached Michelle Obama —
Golan: Unambigously.
Host: — please condemn the case of the slaughter of the 7th of October, and Michelle Obama did not agree to condemn it?
Golan: I’ll the you more than that. I sent her a description, in authentic, sworn testimony, by people who told about the collection of severed female organs from women who had been raped, on broken pelvises, about shocking things that … I don’t want to continue to say in the Israel media. We know that the request has been received. She is not in a political position, she can certainly respond. Silence from her, from all the other female celebrities.
In recent years, Michelle Obama has participated in projects helping the advancement of women and girls around the world.
A search of Michelle Obama’s social media accounts does not show any statements about Israel or the October 7 terror attack.
As Breitbart News reported, UN Women — the United Nations organization for the advancement of women’s rights and equality — finally condemned allegations of “gender-based violence” against Israeli women on Friday, eight weeks after the attack.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
