Rights and Accountability 17 June 2024
In promoting the event, Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz lied in a CNN interview that she had personally watched videos of a rape in progress, footage that Israeli and international investigators have determined does not exist.
The screening is the result of a collaboration between the White House Gender Policy Council and several Israel lobby groups, according to Jewish Insider.
Invitations have been sent “to all the major feminist and women’s rights organizations,” the publication says. The Israel lobby appears to be using the event as a litmus test to see which of these groups is falling into line behind Israel’s propaganda narrative.
Jewish Insider says that “keeping an eye on the audience of the event will be revealing.”
Proven liars
The Sandberg film released in late April disseminates Israeli atrocity propaganda claiming without any credible evidence, and based on proven lies, that Hamas ordered its fighters to use rape as a weapon of war on a wide scale on 7 October 2023.
In an article promoting the White House screening, The Jerusalem Post asserts that: “The silence of most women’s and human rights organization about the sexual assaults committed by Hamas on October 7, which included mass rape and genital mutilation, prompted former Meta COO and author Sandberg to make this documentary, which was directed by Anat Stalinsky.”
The Electronic Intifada’s livestream examined the Sandberg film in meticulous detail last month and demonstrated using Israeli and UN sources how the so-called witnesses interviewed by Sandberg were lying.
You can watch that segment in the tweet below or at this link:
As we noted, human rights defenders have rejected the use of confession videos released by Israel because they almost certainly have been the fruit of torture in a situation where detainees are afforded no due process rights.Amnesty International is one rights group that noted a dramatic increase of Israel’s use of “horrifying” torture in the weeks following 7 October.
Despite the 7 October rape claims being thoroughly and repeatedly debunked, Israel and its lobby keep attempting to revive them, and are now receiving the high-level support of the Biden White House to do so.
In The Electronic Intifada’s latest livestream, we looked at how a recent article in The Times of London has become the first mainstream outlet to admit that there is no evidence for the mass rape claim.We also discuss the findings of the UN’s independent Commission of Inquiry, which also says it could not verify any of the rape claims.
You can watch that latest segment – which also addresses the Sandberg film – in the video at the top of this article.
Democratic Congresswoman lies about rape video
In promoting Monday’s White House event, Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz falsely claimed to have seen video of a 7 October rape in progress.Speaking to CNN on Monday, she asserted, “I hosted a forum with the second gentleman on Capitol Hill a few months ago and the Israeli police came and showed us videos that were taken by Hamas terrorists themselves engaging in the kind of sexual violence that Sheryl’s film shows, cutting off the breasts while raping their victims.”
“Through survivors coming forward, witnesses, video footage and independent analysis, we know that Hamas’ use of sexual violence including rape, mutilation, and brutality was not an anomaly,” Wasserman Schultz had claimed after the February event, which included a closed briefing.
But she did not claim at the time that she had seen videos of anyone “engaging” in sexual violence.
That is because no such videos exist.
In recent weeks Germany’s chancellor and foreign minister have both publicly claimed that Hamas filmed rapes taking place.
However, Israeli security agencies and UN examiners have determined that no videos or photos exist of sexual assaults in progress on 7 October.
This was confirmed in an article in Haaretz in April.
“From inquiries put to three bodies in the defense establishment by Haaretz, it emerges that the intelligence material collected by the police and the intelligence bodies, including footage from terrorists’ body cameras, does not contain visual documentation of any acts of rape themselves,” the Tel Aviv newspaper stated.
The UN team headed by Pramila Patten also reviewed thousands of photos and videos provided by the Israeli government and concluded in its report published in March that “in the medicolegal assessment of available photos and videos, no tangible indications of rape could be identified.”
Despite the UN report’s pro-Israel biases, it also confirms that “no digital evidence specifically depicting acts of sexual violence was found in open sources.”
UN Commission finds no evidence for rape claims
The UN independent Commission of Inquiry reports that it sent a request for information to Israel seeking “additional information in relation to rape and other forms of sexual violence, including evidence of any instructions provided to the perpetrators responsible for the attack on 7 October 2023 to carry out such acts, or information on specific cases of gender-based crimes on 7 October 2023, including cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence.”
Not only did Israel not respond, but according to the report, investigators face “active attempts by Israeli authorities to obstruct the Commission’s access to information related to sexual violence. Such measures include instructing medical professionals not to cooperate with the Commission.”
Like other investigations, the Commission notes “the absence of forensic evidence of sexual crimes committed on 7 October.”
It also reports that it “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 states emphatically that it “was also unable to verify reports of sexualized torture and genital mutilation.”
The Commission says it “viewed reports asserting that documents found on militants who were killed or arrested contain alleged instructions to undress civilians and/or commit rape or other forms of sexual violence during the attack on 7 October.”
But it reports that it was “unable to obtain copies of these documents and was unable to verify their authenticity.”
And just like the report issued in early March by Pramila Patten, the UN secretary-general’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, the Commission of Inquiry debunks some of Israel’s most lurid claims.
It reports that it “found some specific allegations to be false, inaccurate or contradictory with other evidence or statements and discounted these from its assessment.”
The International Criminal Court chief prosecutor, who is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli and Palestinian leaders, accusing them of various war crimes and crimes against humanity, also found no evidence to support the mass rape narrative, as indicated by court documents.
By ignoring these and other similar findings debunking the Israeli claims, Kamala Harris in particular and the Biden administration in general are choosing to disseminate atrocity propaganda they know to be false.
That only deepens their complicity in Israel’s genocide.
Comments
Savages
Permalink Marilyn Shepherd replied on
They are not going to stop this bullshit, they have to keep trying to convince people of their justifications for ethnic cleansing.
White House pushing false rape accounts
Permalink Adrienne Weller replied on
It is revealing how essential to the US and international ruling classes Israel's occupation of Palestine is. They are willing to throw every semblance and image of justice, truth and democracy overboard. They are willing to sacrifice their phony image of care for human rights to protect their bastion in the Middle East. They have made deals to buy off the ruling classes of impoverished Arab nations to link them with Zionist Israel to keep the roiling masses under control. Arab rulers value their own wealth and power, and only fear their populations' backlash if they are too blatant in their support for Israel's occupation. I do not see how this can be changed except with a revolution for Trotskyist socialist feminism, in the U.S. and worldwide. The Arab Spring showed that without a revolutionary party to lead, the most inspiring and massive uprising cannot succeed. https://socialism.com/fs-artic...
Gaza
Permalink Bianca Biji replied on
Your work is great! Bravo!
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