Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) revealed Monday that she took extreme heat after condemning Hamas for its rape of Israeli women in the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
Dingell told CNN in an interview that Palestinian men “went after” her and doxxed her three times after she called attention to the atrocities committed against women and girls by Hamas terrorists.
“The very first week of this [Hamas] attack, 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 told CNN’s Kasie Hunt, according to The Hill. “I have spent the last seven weeks researching the raping of women that has occurred in the Mideast. It is outrageous. I condemn it.”
The Michigan Democrat said she was stunned to witness the “vicious” attacks from anti-Israel voices and activists, including women, who called on her to retract her condemnation of Hamas. But Dingell said the extreme opposition to her stance only made her double down.
“All it did was make me angrier,” she said. “This is going to be an issue I am seriously going to take on.”
“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,” Dingell added.
Dingell said she would reach out to her colleague and House Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) following Jayapal’s refusal to condemn Hamas without also calling out Israel.
The leftist congresswoman was pressed by CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday to condemn Hamas’ rape of Israeli women. Jayapal responded to Bash, saying that “of course” she condemned Hamas and all instances of rape and sexual violence, but then pivoted to suggest that Israel was not adhering to international law in its response to the October 7 massacre.
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“I’m going to talk to Pramila. I have a call into her,” Dingell said, adding, “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.”
Dingell joined her leftist colleagues in the House last week in calling for Israel to agree to a ceasefire, even as Hamas continued its attacks on the country, violating the temporary ceasefire it had promised to abide by as Israel negotiated the release of hostages taken by the terrorist group. In her statement calling for the ceasefire, Dingell condemned Hamas’ attack on Israel before saying that “violence from both sides must come to a permanent end.”
Virginia Kruta contributed to this report.