Claims of Mass Rape by Hamas Unravel Upon Investigation

[cbabe]

https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2024/03/05/israel-hamas-oct7-report-gaza

Claims of Mass Rape by Hamas Unravel Upon Investigation

ARUN Gupta
March 5, 2024

This investigative report uncovers questionable sourcing and a striking lack of physical or eyewitness evidence in two early reports that have been widely cited to bolster claims that Hamas committed mass sexual violence in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

…

Ziv admitted credibility problems with sources and that she did not review all available evidence. She was “unaware” numerous sources had fabricated atrocity stories about Oct. 7. Ziv said, “Yeah, that’s a problem,” about a soldier she quotes whose claim of rape was changed by the government. She quoted volunteers from Zaka, a scandal-plagued organization that collected human remains after Oct. 7, but Ziv did not realize Zaka openly talks of inventing stories. When discussing claims that women’s sexual organs were deliberately mutilated, Ziv conceded, “OK, if there’s alternative explanations you can’t say that.”
…

As for evidence, two reports have thrown cold water all over it. First, Ha’aretz reported on Dec. 24 that Israeli police sent a court order to “general and psychiatric hospitals” to “provide information on the victims of sexual offenses committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7.” It was a tacit admission that police lack survivor testimony. The court order also undercut claims that alleged survivors were not being identified to protect them as unique details would make it simple to identify them.

Second, an even more revealing Ha’aretz report published on Jan. 4, 2024, pointed out that “[t]he police are having difficulty locating victims of sexual assault or witnesses to acts from the Hamas attack, and are unable to connect the existing evidence with the victims described in it.” Police are so desperate they appealed through the media, without success so far, “to encourage those who have information on the matter to come and testify.”

…

On top of serving as war propaganda, stories by Zaka volunteers appear invented. This author described in a recent Intercept investigation how Zaka officials say “we’re using our imagination” when they recount atrocities and “the bodies is telling us the stories that happened to them.” Western media is full of Zaka atrocity claims, nearly all of which are fabrications, dubious, or unsubstantiated.

…more… long read… meticulous detail… Zaka founder as pedophile, using the dead as fundraiser… fabricated stories as propaganda…

[Beastly Boy]

1. Claims of a thorough investigation by Yes Magazine unravel upon investigation by UN

There is a single source of data that the author decided to investigate, to the exclusion fo all others, basing its conclusion on the examination of a few instances of circumstantial evidence they found in that single source that they consider questionable but that are by no means conclusive. No mention of direct, conclusive and overwhelming evidence that makes their attempt at whitewashing the wholesale sadistic rape, torture and murder orgy that occurred on November 7.

Contrast this to the conclusions of an actual thorough investigation announced by the UN Special Representative Pramila Patten:

‘Clear and convincing information’ that hostages held in Gaza subjected to sexual violence, says UN Special Representative

Following a 17-day visit to Israel, the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict reported on Monday that she and a team of experts had found “clear and convincing information” of rape and sexualized torture being committed against hostages seized during the 7 October terror attacks.

Pramila Patten added in a press release issued along with the report that there are also reasonable grounds to believe that such violence, which includes other “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”, may be continuing against those still being held by Hamas and other extremists in the Gaza Strip.

----

In the context of the coordinated attack by Hamas and others of 7 October, the UN mission team found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred in multiple locations, including rape and gang rape in at least three locations in southern Israel.

The team also found a pattern of victims - mostly women - found fully or partially naked, bound and shot across multiple locations which “may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence”.

“Cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”, which the Yes article is attempting to disregard and dismiss, for reasons that defy rational explanation.

This article is a disgrace, not only to the title of "journalism" that the magazine claims, but to the victims of rape and torture everywhere.

[ColinC]

2. "Mass rape" and "rape of some hostages" are not the same thing

One suggests large swaths of the Israeli population are being raped by Hamas (the likelihood being slim simply because Hamas does not occupy much, if any, Israeli territory). The other suggests that some people within the few hundred hostages have been raped.
This is not making light of the rape that is happening, as such a thing is incredibly horrible and cruel. But the suggestion that it is happening en mass does not seem to be a reality.

[Beastly Boy]

8. You put "Mass rape" and "rape of some hostages" in quotation marks.

Are you quoting sources? Could you provide the context in which either was mentioned?

I don't see how one precludes the other from being true, accurate and factual.

[ColinC]

3. If rape of prisoners is considered mass rape, Israel is also incredibly guilty of "mass rape"

…according to the same source you provided.


https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/02/israelopt-un-experts-appalled-reported-human-rights-violations-against

Palestinian women and girls have reportedly been arbitrarily executed in Gaza, often together with family members, including their children, according to information received. “We are shocked by reports of the deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children in places where they sought refuge, or while fleeing. Some of them were reportedly holding white pieces of cloth when they were killed by the Israeli army or affiliated forces,” the experts said.

The experts expressed serious concern about the arbitrary detention of hundreds of Palestinian women and girls, including human rights defenders, journalists and humanitarian workers, in Gaza and the West Bank since 7 October. Many have reportedly been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, denied menstruation pads, food and medicine, and severely beaten. On at least one occasion, Palestinian women detained in Gaza were allegedly kept in a cage in the rain and cold, without food.

“We are particularly distressed by reports that Palestinian women and girls in detention have also been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence,” the experts said. They also noted that photos of female detainees in degrading circumstances were also reportedly taken by the Israeli army and uploaded online.

[Beastly Boy]

9. The purpose of the article in the OP is to whitewash the allegations of MASS RAPE on Hamas' part.

It occurred in Israel. To Israelis. Before any hostages were taken into captivity in Gaza to be raped, tortured and likely killed.

Hence the headline: "Claims of Mass Rape by Hamas Unravel Upon Investigation"

Why are you deflecting from this simple fact?

No Israeli invaded Gaza on October 7. No Israeli attacked Palestinian villages for the express purpose sadistically commit "mass rape", raping their women (and possibly men), or killing them, or raping them before killing them, or killing them before raping them. No Israeli took Palestinian women hostage, to rape "some hostages" and possibly kill them later.

Quit comparing apples to pork bellies. It is a disgraceful proposition.

[ColinC]

10. That wasn't deflection. Hamas doesn't have nearly the territory as Israel does to accomplish such a thing

Against Israeli citizens.

You don’t need an investigation to know that such a thing simply isn’t possible at the moment -just common sense. They will rape the people they can -and have (which is bad enough!). But there simply aren’t enough hostages or colonized Israeli territory to “mass rape” in the thousands. Unless by “mass rape” you mean “rape”?

Again, those are two different things and clarification would be needed to understand what is intended by whoever is making the accusation.

[Beastly Boy]

16. That's a pretty strange response.

It appears that you have a numerical value in mind that separates mass rape from rape, and in your case it looks like you consider fewer than 1000 rapes to be unworthy of a mass rape classification. Additionally, there is a certain minimum territory that in your mind is necessary for a mass rape to occur in, and that figure is entirely nebulous.

That brings us into a realm of the ridiculous, so brace yourself:

According to you, in a hypothetical scenario where 5000 nuns get raped in Vatican City (an area of 0.2 square miles) in a single day, this is not mass rape. Likewise, if 999 nuns get raped in Canada in a single day, that's not mass rape either.

It gets even more ridiculous from here: what if, hypothetically, ten women in Israel get brutally raped by 101 terrorists each in a single day in a concert venue that is only a thousand square feet in area , is it still not mass rape as per your calculus? How about 50 women getting brutally raped by 101 terrorists each, would that satisfy your threshold to qualify as mass rape? What if it happened in Canada and not at a concert in Israel, would that make any difference?

I warned you it would get ridiculous.

[lapucelle]

11. The OP article specifically references the events of October 7.

Those raped on October 7 were not prisoners. Those who continue to be raped by Hamas are not prisoners.

They're victims.

[ColinC]

12. "Mass rape" is still hyperbole. Everything you have said however

…is not.

[lapucelle]

13. You're quoting a press release about the findings of an outside group that issues reports to the UN.

The experts are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN human rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms. Special Procedures mandate-holders are independent human rights experts appointed by the Human Rights Council to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world.

Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent of any government or organisation and serve in their individual capacity.

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/02/israelopt-un-experts-appalled-reported-human-rights-violations-against

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The other poster is referencing the findings by a senior UN official.

Reasonable Grounds to Believe Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Occurred in Israel During 7 October Attacks, Senior UN Official Tells Security Council
https://press.un.org/en/2024/sc15621.doc.htm

[ColinC]

14. The UN official also got their information from outside sources

It’s kinda a silly distinction.

[lapucelle]

15. No it isn't.

The UN report was issued by the UN itself; the report you cited was issued by a group of outside volunteers who do not work for the UN.

[madaboutharry]

4. #Me Too....Unless You're a Jew.

This is a disgraceful piece of non-journalism from a far-left Israel hating publication that proclaims all things "West" are mired in white supremacy and colonization.

Note to those with a grasp on human decency: Ignore the Hamas and rape apologists. Jewish woman also must be believed.

Thank you Beastly Boy for always doing the heavy lifting.

[Goddessartist]

5. Thank you for this. Here's another

https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/new-york-times-intercept-hamas-rape/

On January 28, The Intercept revealed that “The New York Times pulled a high-profile episode of its podcast ‘The Daily’ about sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 amid a furious internal debate about the strength of the paper’s original reporting on the subject.” This was the story that sent Times editors into their bunkers.

A lengthy follow-up report on Wednesday was even more devastating. The new report painted Anat Schwartz as an incompetent propagandist. Schwartz had liked a tweet calling on Israel to turn Gaza “into a slaughterhouse.” The tweet described Palestinians as “human animals.” The Intercept also quoted from a radio interview Schwartz gave in Israel where she admitted that when it came to evaluating evidence of sexual violence, “I have no qualifications.”

Schwartz relied heavily on Zaka, described by The Intercept as “a private ultra-Orthodox rescue organization that has been documented to have mishandled evidence and spread multiple false stories about the events of October 7, including debunked allegations of Hamas operatives beheading babies and cutting the fetus from a pregnant woman’s body. Its workers are not trained forensic scientists or crime scene experts.” Another major source, Shari Mendes, has repeatedly made demonstrably false claims.

[NorthCountryLib]

6. I guess we don't believe women anymore #MeTooUnlessUrAJew

Pretty remarkable turnaround we've made since #MeToo. Pretty upsetting, too.