Silence is spreading — a silence so profound, it is enabling some of the most brutal horrors against women to expand beyond borders, infiltrating even the heart of our democracies.
When we fail to speak against the unspeakable atrocities inflicted upon women by the Iranian regime and its proxies, we permit a culture of oppression and violence to grow, threatening the rights of all women everywhere.
Recently, Maya Shem, a young Israeli woman who was held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, shared a haunting account of her captivity. Confined to a stifling, cramped cage, Maya spent days in the dark, her existence reduced to fear and survival.
She described being surrounded by other young women, some of whom remain in captivity, suffering relentless abuse and deprivation. This is not merely the result of regional conflict; it is the calculated, brutal weaponisation of womanhood itself — an assault on dignity and agency that Iran’s regime has perfected over decades, exporting it to Gaza and beyond.
For over 40 years, Iran’s regime has waged a war against its own women, punishing them for their choices, criminalising their autonomy, and systematically breaking those who resist. In its vision, women exist as tools to be controlled, silenced, and used as symbols for the regime’s twisted ideology.
This war on women’s agency has not remained confined within Iran’s borders; it has been methodically spread to Iran’s proxies, where this ethos of subjugation and terror is wielded against Israel’s daughters, mothers, and sisters.
The silence from the international community is not just passivity; it is complicity. By failing to confront Iran and its proxies, the world has allowed the regime’s cruelty to infect our global consciousness, degrading the value of women’s lives and rights.
This silence is contagious. With each passing day that we hesitate to condemn, the more we accept a culture that treats women as expendable, as collateral in a “political struggle,” rather than as human beings with inherent worth.
This toxic silence has already begun to seep into our own societies, subtly eroding our principles. The reluctance to challenge regimes like Iran’s has weakened our moral stance on women’s rights at home, signalling that those rights are somehow conditional — that they are bargaining chips rather than inviolable truths.
By remaining silent, we risk normalising the brutality inflicted on women abroad, setting a dangerous precedent for our own communities.
We should be outraged not only on behalf of Maya and the countless women who endure unspeakable terror but also for the women around us, whose rights and dignity depend on the strength of our global principles. This is about much more than one group or one nation.
This is a battle for the soul of our societies, for the fundamental belief that women everywhere have the right to choose, to speak, and to live free from fear and oppression.
In hearing Maya’s story, we must recognise this for what it is: a systematic, state-sponsored campaign that seeks to erase the humanity of women. For these young women — whether in Gaza, in Tehran, or anywhere else — to suffer in silence is for all women to be stripped of their agency, their dignity, and their humanity.
To look away is to become complicit in a regime of terror so pervasive that it could soon reach every corner of our world if left unchecked.
It is time to end the contagion of silence. We cannot allow this to spread further, to rot away at the foundations of our values and our commitment to women’s rights. Let us speak loudly and clearly, for Maya, for the women still in captivity, and for every woman who deserves to live as an equal partner in rights and responsibilities.
Women’s humanity is not negotiable, and neither is our duty to defend it. Take a stand now. Join us in demanding justice and the release of these hostages by adding your voice to the call. Do not let this silence consume us all.
Catherine Perez-Shakdam is the Executive Director at We Believe In Israel
