The Dinah Project
Our story
On October 7th, 2023, as Hamas breached the fence dividing Israel from the Gaza Strip, we, legal and feminist experts, knew that such attacks could entail horrendous sexual abuse of civilians. Yet even we were horrified by their inhuman depravity, and we mobilized immediately to counter denial, false information, and silencing.
Our name is taken from the story of our Biblical sister, Dinah, whose rape is the first recorded in the Bible and is a symbol for recognition for all victims of sexual abuse. The word, Dinah, also refers to law and justice. We are also aware of the challenges faced by the state and international legal institutions in their efforts to hold perpetrators accountable. While standing on the shoulders of the human rights and feminist activists who paved our way, we are committed to spearheading necessary changes in national and international narratives and legal doctrines, including terrorism and genocidal rape.
Our Impact
In the brief time since its inception, The Dinah Project, composed of a team of leading academics, legal experts, and former senior civil service members, has already built a comprehensive knowledge base. We are a leading resource in Israel and the world in the call for recognition and justice for the victims of sexual crimes on October 7, have made dozens of public appearnaces and have provided briefings and consultations to hundreds of high-level diplomats, decision-makers and other officials, journalists, and civil society leaders, and we will continue to do so.
We were instrumental in bringing Pramila Patten, UN Under Secretary-General, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict to the region, who prepared a comprehensive report documenting clear evidence of sexual violence including rape and torture, and the systematic nature of these crimes.
The Dinah Project includes an international Advisory Board and operates under the auspices of the Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of Women at Bar-Ilan University, Israel.
Who we are
In the brief time since its inception, The Dinah Project, composed of a team of leading academics, legal experts, and former senior civil service members, has already built a comprehensive knowledge base. We are a leading resource in Israel and the world in the call for recognition and justice for the victims of sexual crimes on October 7, have made dozens of public appearnaces and have provided briefings and consultations to hundreds of high-level diplomats, decision-makers and other officials, journalists, and civil society leaders, and we will continue to do so.
We were instrumental in bringing Pramila Patten, UN Under Secretary-General, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict to the region, who prepared a comprehensive report documenting clear evidence of sexual violence including rape and torture, and the systematic nature of these crimes.
The Dinah Project includes an international Advisory Board and operates under the auspices of the Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of Women at Bar-Ilan University, Israel.
Members
Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari
Founding Academic Director,
the Rackman Center, Bar Ilan University
Ruth Halperin-Kaddari is an expert on family law and international women’s rights and is the Founding Academic Director of the Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women at Bar-Ilan University Law Faculty in Israel. In December 2018 she completed three terms on the UN Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), on which she served twice as Vice-Chair of the Committee and as the first Chair of the Working Group on Inquiries. A graduate of Yale Law School (LL.M.; J.S.D.), she is a renowned speaker in academic as well as professional forums and has published extensively, including Women in Israel (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004) and CEDAW: A Commentary, 2nd Edition (co-edited, Oxford University Press.) She is a recipient of numerous research grants and international awards, including an honorary doctorate from Brandeis University, the US State Department Women of Courage Award, and the Human Rights Award of the Ingrid zu Solms-Stiftung Foundation in Germany. In 2018 she was named one of Apolitical’s 100 most influential people in gender policy around the world. In June 2023 she was shortlisted for the OHCHR Working Group on Discrimination Against Women and Girls.
Judge (Ret.) Nava ben-Or
Former Judge on the Jerusalem District
Court and Deputy State Attorney for
Criminal Matters
Nava Ben-Or served on the Jerusalem District Court from 2007 to 2018. Between 1982 and 2004, she was a prosecutor at the State Attorney’s office, advancing to the position of Deputy State Attorney for Criminal Matters. She has been an adjunct professor at the School of Public Policy and is currently an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Law of the Hebrew University. She holds an LL.B. and LL.M. from the Hebrew University, and an M.A. in Philosophy from Tel Aviv University. In August 2020, she assumed the role of chairperson for the public committee dedicated to advocating for policy changes regarding childhood sexual abuse, and, since November 2021, she has headed a committee for “IGGY”, a proud youth organization tasked with examining sexual vulnerability among LGBTQ youth and the organization’s own volunteers.
Attorney Ayelet Razin Bet-Or
Former Director, The Authority for the
Advancement of the Status of Women
Ayelet Razin Bet Or served as Director of the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women in the Ministry of Social Equality, where she led the national strategic plan to advance the status of women, coordinating with government ministries to promote gender mainstreaming, proposing legislation to further gender equality, combatting violence and discrimination against women, and increasing women’s representation in all areas of life and decision-making. Prior to this, she served in the State Attorney General’s office, specializing in combatting gender-based violence and advocacy for Women’s rights and headed the department of government relations and legislative change at the Association of Rape Crisis Centers. She holds a graduate degree in Law and Criminology from Hebrew University and has represented Israel on gender equality-related issues at the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the Universal Periodic Review of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and several conferences of the OECD.
Colonel (Res) Attorney Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas
Former Chief Military Prosecutor of the IDF
Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas is the former chief military prosecutor of the IDF; she has held numerous senior positions and prosecuted several complex and high-profile legal cases during her twenty-four years of service in the Israel Defense Forces. A graduate of the IDF National Defense College, she is an expert on Military and Operational law, Criminal and Administrative law, and white collar crime. She holds an M.A in Political science, an LLM (cum laude) and an LLB. She has spearheaded efforts to affirm the rights of victims of crime in the IDF and in Israeli society in general and promoted vital legislative amendments. Her groundbreaking work has led to significant legal precedents in the Israeli Supreme Court.
Tal Hochman
CEO, The Israel Women’s Network
Tal Hochman has been a leader in raising awareness of and promoting women’s rights for over a decade. Prior to assuming her role as CEO in November 2023, Tal headed the Government Relations department at IWN for three years. Tal holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and completed a master’s degree in International Social and Public Policy at London School of Economics with a dissertation on Israel’s recent legislation decriminalizing women in prostitution. She has also worked as a parliamentary advisor and as a social worker in a shelter for youth in prostitution.
Noa Kohai
Founding member; currently on leave from the Dinah Project as she completes her internship
Noa Kochai garnered international experience through internships in the legal departments of the Israeli delegation to the United Nations and the Supreme Court of New- York and participation in the legal clinic in Counselling and Legislation at the International Department of the Ministry of Justice in Israel. She holds a bachelor’s degree in law from Bar-Ilan University, has studied at the Academy of International Law in The Hague, and completed the International Organizations Management course offered by the United Nations and the University of Geneva. She is about to begin her legal internship at The National Security Council of Israel. Noa is also a member of The Ronald Lauder Fellowship at The World Jewish Congress.
Eetta Prince-Gibson
International Journalist
Eetta Prince-Gibson is an award-winning journalist and lecturer. Previously Editor-in-Chief of The Jerusalem Report, she is the Israel Editor for Moment Magazine and a frequent contributor to Foreign Policy, TIME, and other foreign and domestic publications. She has been on assignment in Greece, Haiti, Mumbai, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Northern Ireland and France, covering crisis and conflict, and has been awarded the Clarion Award, the National Religion Writers’ Award, the Search for Common Ground Award, and several Rockower Awards. She taught political science and gender studies at Hebrew University and Brandeis University and received academic awards from both. Eetta was selected as part of a Palestinian-Jewish group that traveled to Auschwitz-Birkenau and has been an Israeli representative to several prestigious conferences, including a conference of outstanding women convened by the Queen of Jordan and the International Conference of Women Media Leaders. She holds a BSW and MSW, both awarded with high honors. Before transitioning to journalism, Eetta worked as a clinical social worker, and pursued post-graduate studies in the Harvard Medical School system, where she specialized in psycho-social trauma.
Advisory Board
Dorit Beinisch
Israel
Dorit Beinisch served as the President of the Supreme Court of Israel from 2006-2012 and as Justice of the Supreme Court since December 1995. Before joining the Supreme Court Justice Beinisch served in the Israeli Ministry of Justice for 28 years holding different positions in the criminal law and Constitutional and Administrative Law divisions. Her last role in the Ministry of Justice was the State Attorney of Israel in charge of all state litigation in courts.
Majed El Shafie
Canada
A human rights champion and President & Founder of One Free World International. Forced to flee his native Egypt for converting to Christianity and drawing attention to religious persecution, El Shafie has dedicated his life’s work to fighting for human rights on the front lines and in halls of power. El Shafie regularly testifies before parliamentary bodies in Canada, United States, EU and UK on human rights matters. El Shafie received the Raoul Wallenberg Citation for Moral Courage in the Face of Antisemtism in 2016 and Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.
Gal Gadot
USA / Israel
GAL GADOT is one of Hollywood’s most engaging and sought-after talents. In 2017, she starred as Diana/Wonder Woman in the first-ever “Wonder Woman” feature, which was the highest grossing film of the season, taking in more than $820 million worldwide. Her previous film credits include “Heart of Stone,” “Red Notice,” “Death on the Nile,” “Wonder Woman 1984,” “Justice League,” “Triple 9,” “Criminal,” “Keeping Up with the Joneses,” and the “Fast and Furious” franchise. In 2025, she will star as the Evil Queen in the Disney live action adaption of “Snow White.” Additionally, Gadot has numerous projects in development under her production company, Pilot Wave, alongside her partner Jaron Varsano
Carol Gilligan
USA
Carol Gilligan is the author of In a Different Voice, “the little book that started a revolution.” Her latest book, In a Human Voice, was named a best book of 2023 by the Times Literary Supplement and described as “essential reading for our time.” For over 30 years, she was a member of the Harvard faculty and held the university’s first chair in Gender Studies. She is currently a University Professor at NYU, where she founded the Radical Listening Project.
Photo credit: Joyce Ravid
Gadeer Kamal-Mreeh
Israel
The first non-Jewish anchorwoman to anchor prime time news programs in both Hebrew and Arabic, Ghadir is also the first Druze woman elected to the Knesset, where she served on key committees including Interior and Environment Committee and Advancement of Women’s Status and Gender Equality and chaired and co-chaired the Israel-Switzerland Parliamentary Group and the Israel-Germany Parliamentary Group (respectively). In 2021, she became the first non-Jewish Senior Envoy of the Jewish Agency for Israel. She was ranked among the 100 most influential Israeli figures by the mass-daily Calcalist in 2020, and was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2021.
Aharon (Ronny) Leshno-Yaar
Israel
Former Israel’s ambassador and head of delegation to the U.N. institutions in Geneva and ambassador of Israel to the European Union and NATO in Brussels. He served two terms as the Deputy Director General of the MFA, head of the U.N. and International Organizations Division. Currently, he teaches multilateral diplomacy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and is a consultant to the World Jewish Congress.
Dahila Lithwick
Canada
MSNBC analyst and senior legal correspondent at Slate, Dahlia Lithwick is one of the nation’s foremost legal commentators. She is the host of Amicus, Slate’s award-winning weekly podcast about the law and the Supreme Court. Lithwick is also the author of the instant New York Times bestseller Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America, which recounts the gripping and heroic story of the women attorneys who fought the racism, sexism, and xenophobia of Donald Trump’s presidency—and won.
Photo credit: Nils Folke Anderson
Deborah Lyons
Canada
A veteran diplomat with 25 years of experience, Deborah Lyons has served as Canada’s ambassador to Israel and Afghanistan and deputy ambassador to the United States, and also held senior positions in several governmental offices.
Ms. Lyons served UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, where, among her other duties, she oversaw UN operations after the Taliban takeover in August 2021. For her work in Afghanistan, Ms. Lyons was awarded the Mark Palmer Prize by the Community of Democracies. Ms. Lyons holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of New Brunswick and completed studies at the National Defence College.
Raheel Raza
Canada
President of The Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow, founding member of The Muslim Reform Movement, Director of Forum for Learning, President, Steering Committee of The Council for Muslims Against Antisemitism (CMAA), National Advisory Board of Abraham Global Peace Initiative, award winning journalist, public speaker, advocate for human rights, gender equality and dignity in diversity.
Beate Rudolf
Germany
Professor Dr Beate Rudolf has been the Director of the German Institute for Human Rights, the independent National Human Rights Institution of Germany (A-status) since 2010. From March 2016 to March 2019, she also chaired the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI). Previously, she taught public law, public international law, and European law as a junior professor in the Department of Law at Freie Universität Berlin. In 2017, Freie Universität Berlin awarded her the Margherita von Brentano Prize “for her outstanding work in the field of human rights and women’s rights in particular.”
Amit Soussana
Israel
Amit is an attorney and litigator who specializes in intellectual property. On October 7th, she was kidnapped from her home in Kfar Aza and was released on November 30, after 55 days in captivity.
Soussana is the first to have spoken publicly about the sexual torture, abuse, and constant terror she experienced. Her extensive interview with the New York Times helped to focus global attention on the atrocities and sexual violence committed against the hostages. She has since spoken to other media outlets and met with US Vice President Kamala Harris, diplomats and other senior officials. She has stated that she has gone public to raise awareness about the plight of the hostages.
Noa Tishby
USA / Israel
A two-time New York Times best-selling author Noa Tishby is Israel’s former Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and Delegitimization. After a successful career in entertainment in Israel, Noa relocated to Los Angeles. She was the producer of “In Treatment,” the first Israeli TV show to be made into an American series (HBO). In 2011 Tishby founded the online advocacy and rapid response organization, Act For Israel. She was named among the 50 Most Powerful Jews in the World and listed on the Hollywood Reporter’s list of Women in Power International Executives.
Our Partners
Jacob Blaustein Institute
for the Advancement
of Human Rights
The Arev Fund
National Council of
Jewish Women
Greater Miami Jewish Federation
Credits
Nurit Jacobs Yinon, Aluma Films
Executive Producer and Creative
Director, The Dinah Project
Studio GLD
Branding, Web Design and Development
Special Thanks
Michal Herzog, Dr. Oren Setter, Michal Yaniv, Brigadier General Naama Rozen Grimberg, Michal Philosoph, Emmanuel Nahshon, Eytan Schwarts, Dahlia Lithwick, Dr. Shelly Aviv Yeini, Naomi Granot, Nofar Shemla Kadosh, Dr. Michael Birnhack, Oren Solomon, Shirona Partem.
Credits
Nurit Jacobs Yinon, Aluma Films
Executive Producer and Creative
Director, The Dinah Project
Studio GLD
Branding, Web Design and Development
Special Thanks
Michal Herzog, Dr. Oren Setter, Michal Yaniv, Brigadier General Naama Rosen Grimber, Michal Philosoph, Emmanuel Nahshon, Eytan Schwarts, Dahlia Lithwick, Dr. Shelly Aviv Yeini, Naomi Granot, Nofar Shemla Kadosh, Dr. Michael Birnhack, Oren Solomon, Shirona Partem.
