Warning: This article features highly disturbing descriptions. Discretion is advised.
Disturbing testimonies of survivors of music festival survivors ( Video: UN, Israel Police )
In a special session at the United Nations on Monday evening, Israel revealed graphic evidence of the severe atrocities and sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas terrorists against Israeli women on October 7.
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The event, initiated by Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan, featured disturbing testimonies obtained during police investigations into the experiences of survivors of the Hamas attack on a music festival in southern Israel .
1 View gallery Chief Superintendent Yael Reichert ( Photo: UN )
Chief Superintendent Yael Reichert, representative of Israel Police's anti-corruption wing Lahav 443, said at the conference that these are just "a portion of the shocking testimonies that prove the horrendous crimes against humanity. My life and our lives as women, as a mother and a police officer will never be the same as before October 7."
She further stressed that, "We must ensure the security and peace of Israel, for us, for our children and our future generations."
Reichert noted that the terrorists operated according to a systematic plan. "They carried out a massacre against innocent civilians without discrimination based on religion, race or gender. Massive destruction of every living soul that stood in their way. As part of the investigation, the Israel Police is investigating sexual assaults perpetrated against the victims."
Over the weekend, a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas collapsed on its penultimate day after Hamas refused to release ten Israeli women hostages who are known to be alive. Israeli officials have speculated in recent days that Hamas refused to release the women due to concerns that their accounts from captivity could significantly tarnish Hamas's reputation.
An Israeli official told Ynet in this context, "We know why they are not returning them, and they know that we know."
On Monday, U.S. State Department Spokesperson Mathew Miller confirmed the behind-the-scenes assertions by senior Israeli officials. "It seems one of the reasons they don't want to turn women over... and the reason this pause fell apart is they don't want those women to be able to talk about what happened to them during their time in custody," he told the press.
State Department Spokesman Matt Miller: "It seems that one of the reasons Hamas doesn't want to turn women over that they've been holding hostage, and the reason this pause fell apart, is they don't want those women to be able to talk about what happened to them." pic.twitter.com/W3oLLAnwzJ — Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 4, 2023
Sheryl Sandberg, former Facebook COO, spoke at the UN event, saying: "Hamas murdered 1,200 souls - and in some cases raped them. We know this from survivors, from paramedics - and we are here to say that rape cannot be part of war. No matter which protest you attend, which flag you wave - there is one thing we all agree on: rape is terror, rape is abuse."
001235 on December 5th, 2023 at 02:42 UTC »
Susan Brownmiller (the feminist who coined the term date rape) wrote some extensive books about how in warfare, rape is so common it's unfortunately expected. In fact, she points out that about the only time women don't get raped by the enemy or even their own army passing through is when women are armed to the point that soldiers are afraid to mess with civilians. Even then, they don't escape unscathed, but they reduce the rapings. It's such a huge problem as well because it is difficult to get accountability because they are soldiers in war so incredibly difficult to prosecute.
She cites examples going back 4000 years all the way to the 1990s when she first published where women got raped in war and basically couldn't hold anyone accountable, but this certainly goes to show that any idea of peaceful, neighborly friendship after this war is naive at best. It will be decades before some families recover.
Edit: From the article "Israeli officials have speculated in recent days that Hamas refused to release the women due to concerns that their accounts from captivity could significantly tarnish Hamas's reputation." As if Hamas was known previously as a family brand. It is clear to anyone familiar with how this works that Hamas is "plundering" the population and women captives are certainly being used as an incentive for Hamas fighters.
copperblood on December 5th, 2023 at 00:23 UTC »
Friendly reminder that rule 93 of the Geneva Conventions states,
“Rape and other forms of sexual violence are prohibited.”
mrcsrnne on December 4th, 2023 at 23:07 UTC »
Yeah wow I’m sure they will figure this out and live happily together as neighbours soon….