This is an image of the UN report. Below is an analysis of that report. IT IS NOT THE REPORT ITSELF!
Here is an analysis of the UN report on allegations of rape allegations and how some on the left have responded to that report:
We all know that the Israeli regime ranks right up there with Putin as far as blatant lying. So it’s natural to reject out of hand the Israeli claims of widespread rape by participants of the Hamas raid of Oct. 7. But just because Israel lies whenever it’s convenient doesn’t mean that everything they say is necessarily always a lie.
Nor do we do ourselves any favor by denying what seems overwhelmingly likely to be true, even if the racist state of Israel can gain sympathy from that truth. By denying it, we weaken our own credibility. And since the actual facts overwhelmingly show the criminal role of Israel, it is a mistake to deny those facts when they seem to show the opposite.
But that is what seems to be happening in the case of the report of the UN investigation into the claims of rape committed by participants of the Hamas raid on Oct. 7. Take for instance this article on Mondoweiss that tries to undermine that report. The method of the article is virtually indistinguishable from the flimsy methods of the conspiracy theorists. I have also seen comment after comment on Facebook that take the same approach – cherry picking this or that particular sentence from the report to “prove” that what the investigators call Conflict Relates Sexual Violence (CRSV) did not happen.
Sometimes even the conspiracy theorists are right, and this is one of those times, when they say “do your own research”, or in this case read the report. No, the investigators did not find what could be called “legal proof”. But there certainly is considerable circumstantial evidence that such Conflict Related Sexual Violence was committed.
The investigators report on dozens, maybe hundreds, of witnesses who repeat the same story about an individual act of rape. It’s possible that they are all lying, but that seems unlikely since it’s extremely difficult to coordinate the same lie among dozens of people.
The investigators also claim that they viewed 5,000 still photos. They said they checked to make sure the photos had not been digitally manipulated and that they had not been.
The investigators appear quite circumspect in their conclusions. For example, they write: “Discernible patterns of genital mutilation could not be verified at this time but warrant future investigation. Many bodies along Road 232 also suffered destructive burn damage and conclusions as to conflict-related sexual violence (including genital mutilation) related to these incidents could not be drawn. The mission team was also able to ascertain that multiple bodies of women and a few men were found totally or partially naked or with their clothes torn, including some bound and/or attached to structures, which – though circumstantial – may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence.”
They then reported: “The reviewed photos and videos revealed widespread mutilation of bodies, involving both attempted and actual decapitation, numerous gunshot wounds, and various other forms of extensive violence. The medicolegal assessment of available photos and videos revealed multiple corpses with injuries, predominantly gunshot wounds, including to intimate body parts such as breasts and genitalia. Because in most instances additional injuries were also seen on other body parts, no discernible pattern of genital mutilation could be established.”
It’s true that there could be other explanations for all for this, which means that is not “legal proof”, but seriously, what is the most likely? Really.
Now, you could say that the investigators were simply making propaganda for Israel. However, their circumspect approach does not bear this out. And in any case why, then, do they report on Conflict Related Sexual Violence committed by Israeli soldiers against Palestinian women in the West Bank? Not rape, but all sorts of other sexual violence and threats of sexual violence by Israeli soldiers.
We don’t have to defend the racist state of Israel nor even Zionism itself to recognize that it truly does seem that Hamas members and/or other participants in the Hamas raid committed sexual violence on Oct. 7. We only discredit ourselves if we deny it. We only weaken our own credibility with the wider public. There is widespread and valid evidence for the allegations of widespread use of Conflict Related Sexual Violence was committed on Oct. 7 by Hamas members or participants in that raid.As the MAGAists say, “do your own research”, or in this case, read the full report.
For more on Hamas, read our article What is Hamas? How did it originate? Should socialists give it any support?
Additional note: I have now spent hours (my wife would say “wasted” hours) on Facebook debating with those who denounce the UN report. It’s true that Facebook is not exactly a center of serious thought, but nevertheless some of those I’ve debated with are serious thinkers and writers. Yet not a single one of them has taken 15 minutes to actually read the UN report. So, after spending that time, I’ve written the following:
“I am shocked by the anti-scientific approach of nearly every critic of the UN report on allegations of sexual violence committed on Oct. 7. So far, not a single one of those critics says they have actually read the report. They make all sorts of criticisms, for instance that the investigators didn’t speak with a single alleged victim. When I point out that all the alleged victims cannot return from the dead, critics turn around and say that these victims can in fact speak, by having a rape kit test performed on them. This is simply dishonest. It’s clear what such critics meant an they should simply say, “ok, I guess you are right about that.” Instead, these critics twist and turn and pretend they didn’t mean what they clearly did mean.
Categories: Middle East
Thanks for adding zero nuance. We understand the report came to the conclusion that there was no evidence of genital mutilation or rape, however the eye witness accounts from a population committing genocide on another is more compelling ? We simply have to believe them because they said it?
This comment is typical of the unscientific approach of all too much of the left. What it does is take the approach of a defense lawyer who picks and chooses which facts to present, which to ignore, and how to misrepresent what the opposing side actually said. The report did not say there was “no evidence of mutilation or rape”. It simply said – or implied – that they could not prove it. But what do we make of the multiple cases of victims whose bodies had been stripped from the waist down? You think that was done just because the perpetrators wanted a new pair of pants and underpants? Or the multiple cases of dead bodies having been shot in the genital area? Yes, in many cases they had been shot elsewhere, but that doesn’t “prove” that the genital area was not also targeted. As for the multiple eye witness accounts: The investigators said that in some instances there were multiple accounts of the same incident that matched up. Yes, it’s possible that the witnesses all got together to coordinate their lie, but that is highly unlikely because it’s so difficult to do. My suspicion: Like all too many others, Blake has not even bothered to read the report itself.
His method is that of the Putinized “left” and is the death of socialism, never mind Marxism. We cannot shrink from facts just because they might give sympathy to the enemy, which in this case is Israel. When we do that we not only undermine our own credibility; we also take us down the road towards a total misreading of history, a road of lies and deception.