A New York Times story claiming a pattern of gender-based violence on October 7 hinged on the story of Gal Abdush. But the Abdush family says there is no proof she was raped, and that Times reporters interviewed them under false pretenses.
Our recent position paper on sex and gender-based violence during the October 7 Hamas attacks was the best possible way to engage with a complicated reality.
Recent reports by Physicians for Human Rights Israel and Human Rights Watch on alleged mass rape and the Ahli Hospital attack fail to meet the basic standards of human rights reporting and feed into Israeli propaganda campaigns justifying genocide.
The lack of any evidence of “mass rape” perpetrated by Hamas members on October 7 hasn’t stopped Israel from weaponizing these accusations to legitimize its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
CNN’s Jake Tapper failed to adhere to professional and ethical journalism standards in a story claiming to offer proof of sexual violence by Palestinian fighters on October 7.
Israel’s use of rape as an instrument of war is nothing new. What’s unique is that it has been at war with the Palestinians for 74 years.
Zionism has always used sexual violence as a primary tool to eliminate indigenous Palestinians, and maintain the Israeli settler-colonial regime.