“I was a captive of Hamas. After I was freed, I was imprisoned by online trolls.”

That’s how Agam Goldstein-Almog, a survivor of Hamas captivity, described modern warfare in a Washington Post opinion piece last year. The violence she endured, she said, did not end when the physical assault stopped. In today’s conflicts, survivors are discredited, harassed and silenced in real time — online.

On June 19, marking the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, Jewish Women International (JWI) launched a global initiative to confront this new and rising threat. At the center is a new alliance — The International Coalition on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) — formed to combat the weaponization of sexual violence and the disinformation that retraumatizes victims long after the war has moved offline.

“We want Israeli women to take their place in history,” Meredith Jacobs, CEO of JWI, told eJewishPhilanthropy. “When people talk about rape as a weapon of war in Myanmar, in Darfur, in Ukraine — they must also say Israel. That is the justice we owe them.”

The initiative builds on a groundbreaking new report, “On Land and Online: Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and the Social Media Battlefield,” authored by Meryl Frank, who during the Obama administration served as the U.S. envoy to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Commissioned by JWI and supported by the Evan and Tracy Segal Foundation, the report is the first of its kind to systematically examine how online disinformation compounds the trauma of sexual violence in war zones — amplifying denial, silencing survivors and enabling impunity.

“When survivors speak up, they deserve not only to be heard but to be believed,” said Jacobs. “And in today’s world, the battlefield doesn’t end where the guns fall silent. The battle continues online.”

The report draws from five case studies: Israel, Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and Iraq. Each was chosen, Frank explained, because they reveal a shared and disturbing pattern. “Survivors of conflict-related sexual violence not only endured horrific crimes but were later retraumatized online through denial, harassment and disinformation — often driven by state-sponsored campaigns,” she said.

“What made the case of sexual violence on Oct. 7 even more of an outlier,” Frank added, “is that it is the only instance in which denial began immediately — before survivors could speak, before evidence was fully gathered — and spread globally, amplified by coordinated Russian- and Iranian-linked networks.”

In Myanmar, the military targeted Rohingya women. In Sudan, rape was used to terrorize communities. In Ukraine, Russian forces carried out systematic sexual assaults. The Yazidi experience showed how social media was used to glorify the abduction and sale of women, followed by years of public denial.

Israel’s case, Frank said, stands out not only for the speed and scale of the denial, but also for the silence. “Despite mounting evidence and credible testimony, the very institutions that usually lead the charge for justice looked away. For victims, that was a form of betrayal.”

JWI’s global initiative took shape in the wake of that silence. Jacobs described a powerful moment at the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, where JWI held a packed panel on social media as a weapon of war. “The room was maxed out — over 100 people, standing in the back. Most were not Jewish, not Israeli. And still, more organizations came to us,” she recalled. A group of Nigerian advocates who had worked with the Chibok girls were there by chance — and immediately connected. “They said, ‘We experienced this as well.’ That was when we started talking about forming a coalition.”

One moment stayed with her: “[Former Israeli judge and prosecutor] Nava Ben-Or, part of the Dinah Project [an advocacy group formed to raise awareness about the sexual violence in the Oct. 7 attacks], said — and I’ll never forget it — ‘The women of Israel will never have justice. But if one day, when people talk about Darfur and Sudan, they say ‘Kfar Aza, Be’eri and Nova,’ that’s historic justice.’”

The coalition now includes organizations such as Nadia’s Initiative, JurFem (Ukraine), the Dinah Project and We Are Not Weapons of War. It will host forums, issue joint statements and support survivor-led advocacy across borders.

Seed the Dream Foundation, led by Marcy Gringlas, played a pivotal role in launching the campaign “I Believe Israeli Women.” Jacobs said the campaign’s official launch came at a conference in Israel hosted by MK Shelly Tal Meron. “Marcy was invited to speak, and it gave this effort the platform it needed at exactly the right moment,” she said.

Disinformation, Frank warned, is no longer the product of a few individuals. “What we’re seeing now are large-scale, coordinated campaigns, many backed by states like Russia and Iran, using AI to generate content, manipulate images and create convincing false narratives.”

“For survivors and witnesses, this creates a dangerous environment. Their testimonies aren’t just doubted — they’re actively attacked. Lies travel faster than facts, and social media platforms often fail to respond at all.”

Jacobs cited the experience of Israeli survivor Amit Soussana, who testified before the U.N. about the sexual crimes committed by Hamas. “Survivors are afraid to come forward. They’ve seen what happened to Amit — the hate, the online attacks. It takes an incredible amount of bravery.”

The report also quoted Yazidi Nobel Laureate Nadia Murad, who wrote about the social media harassment she faced in her 2018 memoir. “Even after escaping captivity, I could not escape the images and videos of Yaz?d? women being shared online. It was as if our suffering was being used as entertainment,” she wrote.

The report was affirming for many survivors, Frank said. “They told us it captured something they had long struggled to explain: that the trauma didn’t end with the violence — it continued online,” she said. “Documenting this digital dimension is not optional. Survivors are not just fighting for recognition of what was done to them. They are fighting to reclaim their narratives from a space that too often revictimizes them.”

Laura E. Adkins, JWI’s associate vice president, added: “Even people who care about these conflict zones often don’t realize how widespread and strategic the disinformation around sexual violence has become. The way women are weaponized and become casualties in this new information war — it needs to be recognized.”

She noted the coalition’s strength lies in uniting groups that were previously working in silos. “We’re much more powerful when we work together,” Adkins said.

Jacobs said next steps include developing a curriculum, policy proposals and a toolkit for survivors, advocates and communities to respond to online abuse and disinformation — or know when to disengage for their own safety.

Frank added that they’re in active discussions with major tech platforms on how to address these threats more effectively. “We’ve also proposed new guidelines to U.N. agencies for how to address conflict-related sexual violence in the digital age.”

Jacobs closed with a call to action: “At a minimum, if what we do is stand and say ‘I believe Israeli women,’ especially online — then we will have made a difference. When something is posted, comment with support. Lift up the truth. Amplify the voice. Amplify your support.”