Tame regrets harm, maintains October 7 rape claims unproven

Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has apologised for harm caused by her dismissal of sexual violence claims made by Israeli victims of the October 7 attacks, while continuing to dispute that the violence occurred on a mass scale.

In a video posted to Instagram on Thursday, Tame said she had long wanted to clarify remarks she made on ABC Radio in March, which she said had been misinterpreted as disbelief of Israeli survivors. “I stand for survivors of sexual violence everywhere no matter who they are,” she said. “I always have and always will stand with survivors of sexual violence.”

Tame said she did not deny individual accusations of rape made by Israeli women, including accounts of gang rape, and did not hate Israelis or Jewish people, but maintained there was insufficient evidence that Israeli women were raped en masse, citing Human Rights Watch.

“I abhor the crimes of the State of Israel. I believe Israeli survivors. I believe Jewish survivors as I believe all survivors,” she said. “While the intention of my remarks was not to imply otherwise, I acknowledge and sincerely apologise for any harm their mischaracterisation has caused.”

National Council of Jewish Women Australia president Lynda Ben-Menashe, who condemned the original comments at the time, said the statement fell short.

“As Grace Tame knows, words have real-life consequences,” Ben-Menashe said. “She called Israeli women’s widely proven claims of sexual violence ‘debunked propaganda’, which added insult to their injury, and fanned the flames of incitement against all Jewish women, and men, in this country.

“Saying she’s sorry for how people interpreted her words is not an apology. It neither rehabilitates her nor reverses the damage her original words did to us.

“While we do appreciate that Tame is reflecting on what she has said, she has not similarly apologised for calling to globalise the intifada, words which found translation in 15 dead Australians on Bondi Beach.

“But this is a start. As I offered on ABC Radio straight after she made her original shocking statement, NCJWA is very willing to sit down with Grace Tame and discuss these issues. That offer still stands.”

Tame’s original remarks came in a March interview with ABC Sydney Mornings host Hamish Macdonald, who asked whether she had condemned sexual violence against Israeli women after October 7. She replied that she would not sink to the level of entertaining any kind of propaganda, and that those things had been debunked. The interview drew 145 complaints to the ABC Ombudsman’s office.

Evidence of sexual violence on October 7 and in captivity has come from survivor testimony, forensic evidence, United Nations bodies including the Commission of Inquiry and the Office of the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, and the International Criminal Court, which cited rape and sexual assault in arrest warrants for Hamas leaders.

In February, Tame led chants of “from Gadigal to Gaza, globalise the intifada” at a rally against Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit, held while the community gathered to mourn the Bondi Beach victims. She described Herzog as a war criminal, prompting calls for her to be stripped of her Australian of the Year honour. In June the ABC gave Tame her own podcast.