Kamala Harris: Hamas committed horrific acts of sexual violence on Oct. 7
www.haaretz.com
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U.S. Vice President’s remarks come amid allegations from Israel’s critics that claims of sexual and gender-based violence were either fabricated or exaggerated in order to provide justification for its military response in Gaza

Speaking at an event dedicated to raising awareness on conflict-related sexual violence, including the airing of Sheryl Sandberg’s “Screams Before Silence” documentary, “On October 7, Hamas committed horrific acts of sexual violence,” Harris said.

Her remarks come amid steady criticism from Israel’s critics on the left that claims of sexual and gender-based violence were either fabricated or exaggerated in order to provide justification for its military response in Gaza following October 7.

“In the days after October 7, I saw images of bloodied Israeli women abducted,” she continued. “Hamas committed rape and gang rape at the Nova music festival, and women’s bodies were found naked from the waist down, hands tied behind their back and shot in the head.”

  • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
    205·
    5 months ago

    I wondered why you linked to screenshots instead of the actual report, so I found what I think is what you’re linking to. Here’s the context of your screenshot:

    The Commission found indications that members of the military wing of Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed gender-based violence (GBV) in several locations in southern Israel on 7 October. These were not isolated incidents but perpetrated in similar ways in several locations and by multiple Palestinian perpetrators. The acts documented by the Commission reflected clear abuse of power by male perpetrators and a disregard for the special considerations and protection of women’s integrity and autonomy granted by international law.

    Hamas military wing rejected all accusations that its forces committed sexual violence against Israeli women. However, the Commission documented cases indicative of sexual violence perpetrated against women and men in and around the Nova festival site, as well as the Nahal Oz military outpost and several kibbutzim, including Kfar Aza, Re’im and Nir Oz. It collected and preserved digital evidence, including images of victims’ bodies displaying indications of sexual violence, a pattern corroborated by independent testimonies from witnesses. Reliable witness accounts obtained by the Commission describe bodies that had been undressed, in some incidents with exposed genitals. The Commission received reports and verified digital evidence concerning the restraining of women, including hands and sometimes feet of women being bound, often behind the victims’ backs, prior to their abduction or killing. Additionally, the Commission made assessments based on the position of the body, for example images displaying legs spread or bent over, and signs of struggle or violence on the body, such as stab wounds, burns, lacerations and abrasions.

    The Commission has reviewed testimonies obtained by journalists and the Israeli police concerning rape but has not been able to independently verify such allegations, due to a lack of access to victims, witnesses and crime sites and the obstruction of its investigations by the Israeli authorities. The Commission was unable to review the unedited version of such testimonies. For the same reasons, the Commission was also unable to verify reports of sexualized torture and genital mutilation. Additionally, the Commission found some specific allegations to be false, inaccurate or contradictory with other evidence or statements and discounted these from its assessment.

    I also linked to a much more complete UN report elsewhere in this thread. I don’t know how the two reports relate to each other though.

    • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOP
      717·
      5 months ago

      Because some people such as Sheryl Sandberg appear to not be able to make it to the relevant pages of the report and feel the need to spread the lie that Hamas raped people on October 7. I figured that you would also have appreciated the part with the red border around it as it might have been difficult to find as you previously suggested that Hamas raped women which the UN report very disproves.

      Your other report is not relevant as it is not investigative. I am unsure why you keep linking it.

      Hamas tying up women becomes a lot less relevant when looking at the fact that they have also tied up males. In fact you’d almost think they were tying up people to take them hostage.

      • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
        135·
        5 months ago

        Do you have some kind of superpower that involves looking at documents and seeing only the parts of them that you want to see

        I’m not interested in a back-and-forth, but as one last comment, I’ll quote excerpts from the lengthier of the reports:

        1. Based on the information gathered by the mission team from multiple and independent sources, there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks in multiple locations across Gaza periphery, including rape and gang rape, in at least three locations.
        1. With respect to hostages, the mission team found clear and convincing information that some have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence including rape and sexualized torture and sexualized cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and it also has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing
        • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOP
          516·
          5 months ago

          You have been informed multiple times that your UN report is not investigative or has any legal implication whereas the one I linked is.

          Furthermore the investigative report very clearly states there is no evidence. Only testimonies. You could have read that in the first line of the image I posted. It appears however you are more interested in pushing a narrative that has already been debunked.

          • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
            112·
            5 months ago

            Testimonies are evidence. That’s why prosecutors call witnesses to the stand.

            In fact testimonies are often preferred over non-testimonial evidence, aka “circumstantial evidence”.

            The UN obtained testimonial evidence and circumstantial evidence of sexual violence:

            [We] collected and preserved digital evidence, including images of victims’ bodies displaying indications of sexual violence, a pattern corroborated by independent testimonies from witnesses

              • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
                111·
                5 months ago

                That’s completely false.

                the Commission documented cases indicative of sexual violence perpetrated against women and men in and around the Nova festival site, as well as the Nahal Oz military outpost and several kibbutzim, including Kfar Aza, Re’im and Nir Oz. It collected and preserved digital evidence, including images of victims’ bodies displaying indications of sexual violence, a pattern corroborated by independent testimonies from witnesses.

                • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOP
                  211·
                  5 months ago

                  It’s literally written in the UN investigation. It’s highlighted even in the image I posted.

                  • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    101·
                    5 months ago

                    That’s not what they said.

                    Read it more closely. This is literally in the same report:

                    Based on the information gathered by the mission team from multiple and independent sources, there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks

          • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
            91·
            5 months ago

            I know I said I wouldn’t get drawn into the back and forth. I really don’t want to. 🥲

            But I just wanna posit a little thought experiment:

            “Hang on – were you the one sneaking into the shop after hours and fucking the stuffed animals?”

            "There’s no hard evidence of that! Not that exists in a fully accredited legal document! The follow-up report completely discredited the

            I’m still – completely seriously – wanting to know what report you are even citing in these screenshots. Like I say, I found a random .doc somewhere that is clearly a draft version of that same document, but it wasn’t even immediately clear to me what it was or when it was produced. And, why you say it supersedes the SRSG-SVC report instead of the other way around.

            • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOP
              112·
              5 months ago

              You are not legally obligated to defend fake israeli rape accusations against Hamas. You can choose not to copy paste already debunked articles and ripping paragraphs out of context. Yet you seem too entrenched in your beliefs to admit that.

              Instead of objectively looking at the situation from both sides you have made zero effort to ever consider that Hamas did not rape anyone. As if it is an impossible reality.

              • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
                91·
                5 months ago

                Okay, so you don’t feel like revealing where you are getting the screenshots or what that report is. Got it. I was just curious in case I had missed something. Carry on.

                • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  71·
                  5 months ago

                  The first screenshot is from here

                  The second is from here

                  If you read both reports instead of cherry-picking quotes out of context, you’ll find they both conclude that Hamas sexually assaulted Israeli women.

                  • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
                    71·
                    5 months ago

                    Got it. So it makes sense now – reading it now it looks there were two reports, one with a general overview of war crimes of all types committed by all sides during the conflict, and one much more in depth with a particular focus on sexual violence committed by Hamas. And, of course, there’s not any contradiction between the two or sense in which the one that’s an overview invalidates the one that’s more specific and detailed. E.g. the overview one says among other things (placed in among of course an absolutely massive list of crimes by Israel):

                    V. Legal Analysis

                    1. The Commission found that acts of sexual violence were committed on 7 October in Israel, including at the Nova festival, on road 232, at Nahal Oz military base and kibbutzim Re’im, Nir Oz and Kfar Aza.

                    VI. Conclusions

                    1. The Commission identified patterns indicative of sexual violence in several locations and concludes that Israeli women were disproportionally subjected to these crimes. The attack on 7 October enabled perpetrators to commit SGBV and this violence was not isolated but perpetrated in similar ways in several locations and by multiple Palestinian perpetrators. The Commission did not find credible evidence, however, that militants received orders to commit sexual violence and so it was unable to make conclusions on this issue. However, inflammatory language and disbelief around sexual violence, observed with both parties, risks silencing and discrediting survivors, further exacerbating trauma and stigmatization.

                    … which agrees in literally every particular with the Patten report, including the conclusions it reached and which conclusions it didn’t reach (or stopped short of or said it wasn’t attempting to analyze.)

                    I mean, I wasn’t really in any doubt that what Linkerbaan was saying was a bunch of made up crap, but I am glad to be able to understand the context of the two reports and what actually happened.

                • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOP
                  17·
                  5 months ago

                  It’s the UN report detailing israeli and Hamas war crimes. Surely you are able to find a report by typing a sentence of it in google.

                  The report does find evidence that israel is systematically raping Palestinians by the way.

                  It just can’t find evidence for Hamas raping israelis. Wonder why…