Petet Myers Digest: RFKjr: ‘Hamas to blame for Gaza war, any country would act like Israel’
End of my support for RFK jr—Peter M. Now I don’t back ANY candidate.
(1) RFKjr: ‘Hamas to blame for Gaza war, any country would act like Israel’
(2) Biden proclaims Easter Sunday ‘Transgender Day of Visibility’
(3) Biden orders jails to register voters, expands mail-in balloting
(4) Biden approves Transfer To Israel Of More Bombs & Jets Worth Billions
(5) US Intelligence Sharing with Israel contributes to Genocide
(6) Claims of Mass Rape by Hamas Unravel Upon Investigation
(7) ICJ orders Israel to allow food, water, electricity, nedicine, & report in 1 month
(8) UN Rapporteur confirms Gaza genocide
(9) Orthodox Rabbis Condemn call for ‘Humanitarian Pause’
(1) RFKjr: ‘Hamas to blame for Gaza war, any country would act like Israel’
From: “Come Carpentier” <comecarpentier@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2024 12:35:30 +0530
Subject: Re: [Owner] [shamireaders] The last best hope…
We all know, or should know that the US political system is captive of Zionist interests and that anybody who wants to play has to compete with others to support Israel. That can only change if the political system itself changes. Right now all three candidates are dependent on Jewish approval, whatever they may think privately. It would be less harmful to their campaigns if they said they wanted to abolish the US Constitution. They would still have a chance but not if they state they will stop supporting Israel.
C
On Sat, Mar 30, 2024 at 10:12?PM mike robeson via <http://groups.io>groups.io <mikerobeson1=<mailto:yahoo.com@groups.io>yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:
Prior to October 2023, I believed RFK Jr. might be the only possible hope for progressive change in US politics. I contributed over 500.00 to his campaign. But now, I feel like I was scammed and have only this to say –
FUK RFK!
He saw through the Covid scam and attacks Big Pharma. But on Israel, and even more than Biden and Trump he SUKs.
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-792946
Robert F. Kennedy: ‘Hamas to blame for Gaza war, any country would act like Israel’
Kennedy said that each previous ceasefire “has been used by Hamas to rearm, to rebuild and then launch another surprise attack. So what would be different this time?”
By REUTERS
MARCH 20, 2024
Independent US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr offered staunch support for Israel in a Reuters interview, calling it a “moral nation” that was justly responding to Hamas provocations with its attacks on Gaza and questioning the need for a six-week ceasefire backed by President Joe Biden.
Biden has also been a vocal defender of Israel since the October 7 attack by Hamas, but he has recently pressured it to stem the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and accelerate a six-week ceasefire for hostage releases and aid delivery.
Asked if he supported a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, Kennedy told Reuters: “I don’t even know what that means right now.”
Kenndy support for Israel’s self-defense
Kennedy said that each previous ceasefire “has been used by Hamas to rearm, to rebuild and then launch another surprise attack. So what would be different this time?”
Kennedy, 70, spoke to Reuters in a wide-ranging interview on Monday from his office at his Spanish-style home in Los Angeles, hidden by tropical plants and hedges.
Support for Israel has become a political wedge issue inside the Democratic Party, as the death toll in Gaza tops 30,000 and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to push an assault into Rafah.
The planned policy proposals
Kennedy’s policy proposals, including a pledge to make homeownership easier and crack down on corporate subsidies, have gained some traction among US voters unenthusiastic about Biden, a Democrat, or his Republican rival Donald Trump in the presidential election.
Kennedy is backed by 15% of registered voters, versus 39% for Biden and 38% for Trump, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.
That level of support means Kennedy could have a significant impact on the election in November, with strategists claiming he could help Trump by pulling more votes from Biden. He will announce a running mate on March 26; names floated include football player Aaron Rodgers, who refused the COVID vaccine, lawyer Nicole Shanahan and US Senator Rand Paul.
His opposition to a ceasefire and his full-throated support for Israel could be at odds with many young voters, whom he counts as one of his strongest constituencies.
Speaking from an office crammed with bookshelves, taxidermied animals and insect specimens, Kennedy told Reuters he sees wars as either moral crusades that should be pursued or wars of choice that should be avoided.
“World War I was an immoral war. It was a war of choice. We should have never gone,” he said.
Israel did not choose this war, he said, comparing it to US involvement in World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Kennedy said Hamas was to blame for Gaza’s destruction for failing to embrace a two-state solution and for firing thousands of missiles into Israeli cities like Tel Aviv.
“Any other nation that was adjacent to a neighboring nation that was bombing it with rockets, sending commandos over to murder its citizens, pledging itself to murder every person in that nation and annihilate it, would go and level it with aerial bombardment,” Kennedy said.
“But Israel is a moral nation. So it didn’t do that. Instead, it built an iron dome to protect itself so it would not have to go into Gaza.”
He said Hamas gave Israeli leaders no choice after fighters stormed into Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Kennedy added that he thinks a US president should be contacting leaders from Russia, Turkey and Egypt to put an end to Hamas.
Since the October 7 Hamas attacks, nearly 32,000 people have been confirmed killed in Israel’s retaliatory onslaught, according to Palestinian health officials, with thousands more feared lost under the rubble.
A UN-backed report on Monday said famine in Gaza is likely by May without an end to fighting in the more than five-month war between Israel and Hamas militants in the Palestinian enclave of 2.3 million people.
Kenndey’s political plans for elections
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who spent years pushing anti-vaccine messages, told Reuters as president, he would not restrict abortion, would repeal many provisions of Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and would look to close down the southern border to immigrants entering the US illegally, while people with asylum claims will await adjudication in Mexico.
He distanced himself from Trump but said he supported a recent Supreme Court decision that allowed the former president to remain on the ballot in 2024.
“I intend to beat him in this election. I want to beat him on a level playing field. I don’t want to beat him because of a court case,” he said.
Kennedy said he considered many subsidies in the IRA “absolutely catastrophic for the environment.”
“You know, virtually all the carbon capture subsidies are really giant subsidies to the oil industry and to the carbon industry. We should not be doing that. We shouldn’t add to big agriculture … I would get rid of those altogether,” he said.
He spoke in front of a taxidermied tiger that was a gift to his late father from Indonesia’s late President Sukarno. On his bookshelves were skulls of various animals, dead spiders in vials and a stream of wooden ducks, some antique and some passed down from his father, the senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy who was assassinated in 1968.
The bookshelves featured photograph archives of his uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, as well as books about the US Central Intelligence Agency and classics like Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
Kennedy was banned from Instagram in 2021 for spreading misinformation about vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic but was later reinstated. He lost a legal bid to force YouTube owner Google GOOGL.O to reinstate videos of him questioning the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
He disputes the anti-vaccine tag but chaired the Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit organization that focuses on anti-vaccine messaging. He said that, as president, he would not prevent people from getting vaccines, but he did not answer a question about how he would prevent an uptick in measles cases.
“I’m not concerned about whether people disagree with me,” Kennedy said in response to a question on how his position on Gaza might affect his standing among young voters.
“If somebody shows me that I’m wrong about an issue, I’m going to change my opinion.”
Reuters/Ipsos polls show Kennedy backed by 16% of respondents aged 18 through 39, versus 28% for Biden and 26% for Trump.
Fifteen percent of respondents aged 40 or older said they supported Kennedy Jr., versus 33% for Biden and 36% for Trump.
(2) Biden proclaims Easter Sunday ‘Transgender Day of Visibility’
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/biden-proclaims-this-easter-sunday-as-transgender-day-of-visibility-sparking-backlash-5618641
Trump Demands Biden Apologize for Proclaiming Easter Sunday ‘Transgender Day of Visibility’
President Joe Biden has sparked conservative outrage after proclaiming March 31, 2024—or Easter Sunday—as ‘Transgender Day of Visibility.’
President Joe Biden has declared March 31, 2024, which falls on Easter Sunday, as “Transgender Day of Visibility,” sparking uproar among conservatives and scathing criticism from former President Donald Trump, who demanded that the president apologize to millions of Christians in the United States.
“Today, we send a message to all transgender Americans … You are America, and my entire Administration and I have your back,” President Biden said in the <https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/03/29/a-proclamation-on-transgender-day-of-visibility-2024/> March 29 proclamation, while boasting of appointing “transgender leaders” to his administration and ending a ban on transgender people from serving openly in the military.
Calling transgender people “part of the fabric of our Nation” who help the country and its economy thrive, the president touted his administration’s efforts to make public services more accessible for transgender Americans, including “more inclusive passports” that include an X as the “gender” marker.
“There is much more to do,” President Biden said, while urging Congress to pass the Equality Act “to codify civil rights protections for all LGBTQI+ Americans” and officially declaring this coming Easter Sunday as “Transgender Day of Visibility.”
President Biden’s move sparked an outpouring of criticism among conservatives, including from the Trump campaign, which also objected to the White House’s <https://firstliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024_Youth_Art_Egg_Flyer.pdf> instructions for an Easter egg art design competition for children that ban submissions with religious symbols or “overtly religious themes.”
“It is appalling and insulting that Joe Biden’s White House prohibited children from submitting religious egg designs for their Easter Art Event, and formally proclaimed Easter Sunday as ‘Trans Day of Visibility,’” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt <https://www.donaldjtrump.com/news/b96cbc60-f78b-4135-9d79-f0703c527753> said in a statement.
“Sadly, these are just two more examples of the Biden Administration’s years-long assault on the Christian faith. We call on Joe Biden’s failing campaign and White House to issue an apology to the millions of Catholics and Christians across America who believe tomorrow is for one celebration only—the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” she added.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
‘Easter Sunday Is Being Replaced’
Much of the criticism of the president’s proclamation centered on the fact that March 31, 2024, falls on Easter Sunday, which is one of the most important Christian religious holidays.
“Easter Sunday is being replaced,” actor and producer Kevin Sorbo, who has 1.9 million followers on X, <https://x.com/ksorbs/status/1774096889178185928?s=20> said in a post. “Our ‘Catholic’ president banned religious imagery from the White House and is now calling Easter Sunday ‘transgender day of visibility.’”
“Tyrants, all of them,” added Mr. Sorbo, whose posts on the platform are often critical of the Biden administration’s policies—and of far-left ideas and proposals more generally.
Harmeet K. Dhillon, a lawyer whose focus includes First Amendment rights and election law matters, <https://x.com/pnjaban/status/1774119725339230314?s=20> took to X to share a critical reaction to President Biden’s decision to shroud this Easter Sunday with his administration’s transgender agenda.
“Isn’t every day at the Biden White House ‘Transgender Day of Visibility?’” wrote Ms. Dhillon, who also serves as vice president of the Republican National Lawyers Association.
“To deliberately insult Christians on this holy weekend is gross and evil,” she added.
Michigan state Rep. Joshua Schriver, a Republican, also took a dim view of the proclamation.
“Contrary to Joe Biden, tomorrow isn’t Transgender Day of Visibility in Michigan,” he wrote in a <https://x.com/JoshuaSchriver/status/1774116742207262886?s=20> post on X. “We will not celebrate sexual deviancy and self mutilation.”
“Tomorrow is Easter Sunday,” he continued. “We will be celebrating the resurrection of our King, Jesus Christ, who died and rose from the dead to give us ALL an opportunity to repent from our sins and believe in Him.”
“Where’s the empathy for Christians on our most important day of remembrance?” he added.
Amid backlash to the president’s proclamation, some media outlets <https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/transgender-day-visibility-falls-annually-march-31-not-always-easter-2024-03-29/> ran fact-checks clarifying that President Biden’s declaration of this coming Easter Sunday as “Transgender Day of Visibility” seems to be a coincidence because March 31 happens to fall on Easter Sunday this year, but it doesn’t always.
Indeed, President Biden issued similar proclamations in <https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/03/31/a-proclamation-on-transgender-day-of-visibility-2021/> 2021, <https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/03/30/a-proclamation-on-transgender-day-of-visibility-2022/> 2022, and <https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/03/30/a-proclamation-on-transgender-day-of-visibility/> 2023. with March 31 falling on a Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday respectively in those years.
Background
Even though the Biden administration has in the past <https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/03/31/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-advances-equality-and-visibility-for-transgender-americans/> given a nod of recognition to March 31 as “Transgender Day of Visibility,” Friday’s proclamation is the first time that the president has used the authority vested in him by the U.S. Constitution to officially declare it as such.
March 31 has in some circles been celebrated as “International Transgender Day of Visibility” for over a decade. …
Transgenderism has become a prominent issue in America’s social and political landscape in recent years, with those on the left tending to support “gender-affirming care” laws that in some cases block parents from having a say in their children’s decisions to get gender-change surgeries and other risky medical procedures.
(3) Biden orders jails to register voters, expands mail-in balloting
https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/mail-in-ballots-for-inmates-how-the-federal-government-is-targeting-new-voters-5578741
Behind Massive Mail-in Ballot Push Is a Little-Noticed Executive Order
The federal government is using its vast resources and its largest agencies to register new voters and expand mail-in balloting, with the help of nonprofits.
By Kevin Stocklin
March 28, 2024
Updated:
March 29, 2024
A federal effort to register voters using the government’s vast reach, including throughout the U.S. prison system, is raising concerns from critics who have said it won’t benefit Democrats and Republicans equally.
Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson wrote to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on March 6 alleging that agencies under the attorney general’s charge are “attempting to register people to vote, including potentially ineligible felons, and to co-opt state and local officials into accomplishing this goal.”
The allegation relates to President Joe Biden’s<https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/03/07/executive-order-on-promoting-access-to-voting/> Executive Order 14019, which states, “The head of each agency shall evaluate ways in which the agency can, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, promote voter registration and voter participation.”
Among other things, this order has forced U.S. Marshals to modify more than 900 contracts with prisons and jails to provide voter registration documents and facilitate mail-in voting for inmates, Mr. Watson wrote.
“We have worked extremely hard to restore the confidence of Mississippi voters in our election process,” Mr. Watson told The Epoch Times. “To have the Biden administration and the DOJ purposefully undermine these efforts and jeopardize the integrity of Mississippi’s elections is unacceptable.”
The secretary of state is the chief election officer in Mississippi.
The work by the Department of Justice to register voters in prisons, critics say, is just the tip of the iceberg.
Other agencies, including the Department of Education, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, are also carrying out campaigns to sign up new voters.
On Feb. 26, Vice President Kamala Harris lauded a federal plan to use work-study grants to pay students to register voters.
In addition, President Biden’s executive order directed federal agencies to select “approved, nonpartisan third-party organizations and state officials to provide voter registration services on agency premises.”
President Biden’s executive order was <https://www.aclu.org/news/voting-rights/biden-can-expand-voting-access-through-his-executive-order>called “visionary“ by Ceridwen Cherry, a former staff attorney on the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Voting Rights Project, who said, ”In a democracy, governments at all levels should be doing everything they can to help eligible people register to vote.”
(4) Biden approves Transfer To Israel Of More Bombs & Jets Worth Billions
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/white-house-approves-transfer-israel-more-bombs-jets-worth-billions
White House Approves Transfer To Israel Of More Bombs & Jets Worth Billions
By Tyler Durden
MONDAY, APR 01, 2024 – 05:45 AM
The Biden White House has approved of sending billions of dollars worth of new military equipment and ammo to Israel, The Washington Post has revealed, even amid public criticism from US officials over Prime Minister Netanyahu’s intent to soon send ground troops into Rafah, which is expected to result in humanitarian disaster in the refugee-packed southern city.
This package is to include 25 F-35 fighter jets, sources told the Post, and additionally the highly controversial 2,000-pound bombs which have been known to kill indiscriminately in Gaza when deployed by the Israeli air force.
“The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, according to Pentagon and State Department officials familiar with the matter,” the report indicates.
“The 2,000-pound bombs have been linked to previous mass-casualty events throughout Israel’s military campaign in Gaza,” WaPo continues. “These officials, like some others, spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because recent authorizations have not been disclosed publicly.”
The 2,000 pound bombs have been flagged by human rights monitors as behind much of the soaring Palestinian casualties, given they can demolish entire city blocks and produce craters over 40 feet wide.
The weaponry was approved as part of a prior authorization, but it highlights that for all the current US-Israel tensions due to the soaring civilian death toll in the Gaza campaign, Biden is certainly no closer to attaching ‘conditions’ on Israel when it comes to deployment of US-supplied weapons.
A State Department official has explained that “fulfilling an authorization from one notification to Congress can result in dozens of individual Foreign Military Sales cases across the decades-long life-cycle of the congressional notification.”
“As a matter of practicality, major procurements, like Israel’s F-35 program for example, are often broken out into several cases over many years,” the official added.
A New York Times investigation in December concluded that Israel has been using 2,000 pound bombs supplied by the US on Gaza neighborhoods on a routine basis. The Pentagon has said it almost never uses these types of weapons in densely populated urban areas anymore because of the likelihood of large-scale civilian casualties.
(5) US Intelligence Sharing with Israel contributes to Genocide
U.S. and Israel Intelligence Sharing Draws Criticism
March 30, 2024 at 11:44 pm EDT
By Taegan Goddard
“A secret memorandum that expanded intelligence sharing with Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack has led to growing concerns in Washington about whether the information is contributing to civilian deaths,“ the <https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/u-s-and-israels-> Wall Street Journal reports.
“Among the worries is that there is little independent oversight to confirm that U.S.-supplied intelligence isn’t used in strikes that unnecessarily kill civilians or damage infrastructure.”
(6) Claims of Mass Rape by Hamas Unravel Upon Investigation
<https://www.yesmagazine.org/about/editorial-policies-and-standards/> Why you can trust us
BY ARUN GUPTA
MAR 5, 2024
This investigative report uncovers questionable sourcing and a striking lack of physical or eyewitness evidence in two early reports that have been widely cited to bolster claims that Hamas committed mass sexual violence in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Editor’s Note: The story that follows is not typical of the solutions journalism that YES! focuses on. The author first submitted a version of this story, centered on debunking a major New York Times investigation, to YES! and another outlet in early January. In light of the seriousness of the genocide in Gaza, and YES!’s belief in the importance of fact-based, impactful journalism, we accepted the submission and are proud to present the resulting in-depth investigation. A warning for our readers that descriptions of the alleged rapes and violence are graphic and disturbing.
Following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks that <https://www.barrons.com/news/new-tally-puts-october-7-attack-dead-in-israel-at-1-163-78182279> resulted in at least 1,163 deaths, rumors began circulating that Israeli women were experiencing horrific mass rape and sexual violence. Months later, a <https://www.phr.org.il/en/gender-based-violence-eng/> position paper by Physicians for Human Rights Israel and a <https://apnews.com/article/sexual-assault-hamas-oct-7-attack-rape-bb06b950bb6794affb8d468cd283bc51> New York Times investigation <https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/28/world/middleeast/oct-7-attacks-hamas-israel-sexual-violence.html> convinced <https://apnews.com/article/sexual-assault-hamas-oct-7-attack-rape-bb06b950bb6794affb8d468cd283bc51> many <https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-official-in-israel-asks-victims-of-hamas-sexual-assault-to-break-silence/> observers that Hamas used rape as a weapon of war. But an investigation by YES! examining both reports, other media investigations, hundreds of news articles, interviews with Israeli sources, and photo and video evidence reveals a shocking conclusion: There is no evidence mass rape occurred.
<https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-hamas-used-sexual-violence-on-october-7th> The New Yorker, <https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/13/opinion/hamas-violence-women-israel.html> New York Times, <https://apnews.com/article/sexual-assault-hamas-oct-7-attack-rape-bb06b950bb6794affb8d468cd283bc51> Associated Press, and <https://www.thenation.com/article/world/feminists-hamas-rapes/> The Nation treat PHRI’s paper as the gold standard for proof of Hamas’ rape and sexual violence. But the paper is shockingly thin. It lacks original reporting and is based on media reports that are dubious at best with no corroboration—no forensic evidence, no survivor testimony, no video evidence.
During a two-hour-long interview that was heated at times, Hadas Ziv, director of ethics and policy at <https://www.phr.org.il/en/> Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI), acknowledged numerous problems with the position paper she co-authored, “<https://www.phr.org.il/en/gender-based-violence-eng/> Sexual and Gender-Based Violence As a Weapon of War During the October 7, 2023 Hamas Attacks.”
Ziv admitted credibility problems with sources and that she did not review all available evidence. She was “unaware” numerous sources had fabricated atrocity stories about Oct. 7. Ziv said, “Yeah, that’s a problem,” about a soldier she quotes whose claim of rape was changed by the government. She quoted volunteers from <https://theintercept.com/2024/02/27/zaka-october-7-israel-hamas-new-york-times/> Zaka, a scandal-plagued organization that collected human remains after Oct. 7, but Ziv did not realize Zaka openly talks of inventing stories. When discussing claims that women’s sexual organs were deliberately mutilated, Ziv conceded, “OK, if there’s alternative explanations you can’t say that.”
While admitting “I did not know all the stories that you speak about that discredit those witnesses,” Ziv also lashed out: “I feel like I’m a rape victim that’s being interrogated.” YES! responded, “Not every interview is a friendly interview.”
Further, the PHRI paper is riddled with errors small and large. Names are misspelled, quotes don’t match links, and an individual is misidentified. Ziv was unaware that <https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-start-building-oct-7-rape-cases-focusing-on-footage-and-testimonies/> the Israeli government alleges it has <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/31/israel-attack-victims-forensic-identification/> forensic evidence of rape, which it has not produced publicly. Most egregious, Ziv didn’t realize her paper counted one alleged gang rape as two separate incidents.
The New York Times’ Dec. 28, 2023, story, “<https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h1ep5yhwp> Screams Without Words,” has also been <https://www.mediaite.com/news/gut-wrenching-new-york-times-report-details-widespread-sexual-atrocities-on-october-7-i-still-remember-her-voice-screams-without-words/> treated as <https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/investigation-reveals-tragic-details-of-hamass-sexual-violence/> proof that <https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h1ep5yhwp> Hamas committed <https://www.ynetnews.com/article/h1ep5yhwp> widespread sexual violence.
The cornerstone of that report is Gal and Nagi Abdush, a couple killed on Oct. 7. The Times says Israeli police believe Gal Abdush was raped. But the only evidence given is a “<https://www.oct7factcheck.com/research-hamas-weaponized-sexual-violence-oct-7-nytimes> grainy video” of Gal’s burned corpse, “lying on her back, dress torn, legs spread, vagina exposed.” Gal became known as “the woman in the black dress.” The story <https://theintercept.com/2024/01/28/new-york-times-daily-podcast-camera/> blew up in the Times’ face. Surviving family members denied she was raped.
PHRI references the video of Gal Abdush as evidence of possible “sexual abuse.”
The Times mentioned messages that Gal and Nagi, parents of two children, sent to their family during the attack. After Gal was killed, Nagi sent “a final audio message” to his brother Nissim Abdush at 7:44 a.m., “Take care of the kids. I love you,” right before he was killed.
But the Times fails to mention other text and phone messages that make it almost impossible Gal was raped. She messaged at 6:51 a.m. about intense explosions on the border, based on an <https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/family-of-key-case-in-new-york-times-october-7-sexual-violence-report-renounces-story-says-reporters-manipulated-them/> Instagram comment by Miral Altar, Gal’s sister.
Nine minutes later, at 7:00 a.m., Nagi Abdush called his brother Nissim to say Gal was shot and dying.
<https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/family-of-key-case-in-new-york-times-october-7-sexual-violence-report-renounces-story-says-reporters-manipulated-them/> Mondoweiss said Nissim told his story to <https://13tv.co.il/item/documentary/worth-a-story/usmj7-903873429/> an Israeli TV station. He said Nagi never mentioned Gal was raped, nor did Israeli police indicate to the surviving family that Gal was sexually assaulted. The Times never explains how Gal could be captured, raped, fatally shot, and burned to death in nine minutes while Nagi messaged his family and never mentioned any physical contact with Hamas forces.
YES! spoke with Nissim and Neama Abdush, siblings of Nagi. They said Nagi called twice, first to say Gal had been shot in the heart and had died, and then his farewell call asking them to take care of their children. Neama said, “No, no, no,” when asked whether Nagi said anything about Gal being attacked or raped.
In a follow-up call, Nissim reiterated the police did not give any indication Gal was sexually assaulted, but he refused to offer any more details unless he was paid 60,000 “dollars, shekels.”
Tali Barakha, another sister of Gal, <https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/family-of-key-case-in-new-york-times-october-7-sexual-violence-report-renounces-story-says-reporters-manipulated-them/> wrote on Instagram, “No one can know if there was rape.”
The Dubious Dozen
PHRI’s paper stated there is “sufficient evidence to require an investigation of crimes against humanity.” The New York Times claimed “attacks against women were not isolated events but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct. 7.”
Yet there are extraordinarily few sources. Twelve individuals account for the vast majority of rape and sexual violence claims in hundreds of articles.
Eight of these sources are in PHRI’s paper and six are in The New York Times report. Investigations by <http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/11/16/the-lead-israel-investigates-sexual-violence-claims-on-october-7-jake-tapper.cnn> The Washington Post, <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/18/evidence-points-to-systematic-use-of-rape-by-hamas-in-7-october-attacks> The Guardian, <https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/israel-pieces-together-puzzle-of-october-7-sexual-violence> The Straits Times, <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67629181> BBC, <https://apnews.com/article/sexual-assault-hamas-oct-7-attack-rape-bb06b950bb6794affb8d468cd283bc51> AP, <http://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/accounts-sexual-violence-hamas-attack-mount-justice-is-remote-israels-victims-2023-12-05/> Reuters, <http://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-hamas-oct-7-murder-sexual-violence-torture-45aab439> The Wall Street Journal, <https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hamas-rape-israeli-women-oct-7-rcna128221> NBC News, <http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/11/16/the-lead-israel-investigates-sexual-violence-claims-on-october-7-jake-tapper.cnn> The New Yorker, and <http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/11/16/the-lead-israel-investigates-sexual-violence-claims-on-october-7-jake-tapper.cnn> various <http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/12/05/exp-hamas-rape-golodryga-pkg-120512aseg2-world.cnn> CNN <http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/12/05/exp-hamas-rape-golodryga-pkg-120512aseg2-world.cnn> segments all rely on a combination of these 12 sources.
All but one of the 12 sources are connected to the Israeli military and police, such as the <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-01-31/ty-article-magazine/.premium/death-and-donations-did-the-volunteer-group-handling-the-october-7-dead-exploit-its-role/0000018d-5a73-d997-adff-df7bdb670000> Home Front Command. Five of the sources are Zaka volunteers who told stories that smack of fabrications. Five other sources claimed they saw corpses that bore signs of rape or sexual violence. Not one of these sources was professionally trained to make such assessments, and nearly all fabricated stories, as described below.
That leaves only two people who claimed they witnessed rape. The government of Israel’s entire case for mass rape is built on two allegations: a source known as “Witness S.,” or Sapir, put forward by the police, and an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) special forces soldier, Raz Cohen. The soldier has changed his story numerous times, making it suspect, while Sapir’s account is so fantastical as to defy belief, as explained below.
Even if all 12 sources are considered entirely credible, their accounts lack photo and forensic evidence and survivor testimony. At best they are unsubstantiated claims.
As for evidence, two reports have thrown cold water all over it. First, <https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-24/ty-article/.premium/without-victims-consent-police-orders-hospitals-to-reveal-info-about-hamas-sexual-crimes/0000018c-9c3f-d17b-addd-bf7f3f300000> Ha’aretz reported on Dec. 24 that Israeli police sent a court order to “general and psychiatric hospitals” to “provide information on the victims of sexual offenses committed by Hamas terrorists on October 7.” It was a tacit admission that police lack survivor testimony. The court order also undercut <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/18/evidence-points-to-systematic-use-of-rape-by-hamas-in-7-october-attacks> claims that <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67629181> alleged survivors <https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/28/world/middleeast/oct-7-attacks-hamas-israel-sexual-violence.html> were not being identified to protect them as unique details would make it simple to identify them.
Second, an even more revealing<https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/law/2024-01-04/ty-article/.premium/0000018c-d3e4-ddba-abad-d3e502980000?gift=0d660f6ae8134267b732f295253d7d35> Ha’aretz report published on Jan. 4, 2024, pointed out that “[t]he police are having difficulty locating victims of sexual assault or witnesses to acts from the Hamas attack, and are unable to connect the existing evidence with the victims described in it.” Police are so desperate they appealed through the media, without success so far, “to encourage those who have information on the matter to come and testify.”
United Nations experts have provided some evidence. On Jan. 29, <https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-official-in-israel-asks-victims-of-hamas-sexual-assault-to-break-silence/> a U.N. envoy in Israel investigating sexual violence on Oct. 7 issued a plea through the Israeli president’s office for “victims of alleged sexual assault [to] break your silence.” It was met with silence. Then on Feb. 19, <https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/02/israelopt-un-experts-appalled-reported-human-rights-violations-against> four U.N. experts said they “expressed alarm over credible allegations” that Israel had subjected hundreds of Palestinian women and girls in Gaza to “arbitrary detention,” “degrading treatment,” “multiple forms of sexual assault,” including rape, and “deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing.” […]
(7) ICJ orders Israel to allow food, water, electricity, nedicine, & report in 1 month
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240323-israel-continues-to-restrict-aid-deliveries-to-gaza-causing-man-made-famine/
World Court orders Israel to take action to address Gaza famine
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240328-world-court-orders-israel-to-take-action-to-address-gaza-famine/
March 28, 2024 at 8:03 pm
Judges at the International Court of Justice, on Thursday, unanimously ordered Israel to take all the necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies arrive without delay to the Palestinian population in Gaza, Reuters reports.
The ICJ said the Palestinians in Gaza face worsening conditions of life, and famine and starvation are spreading.
The Court observes that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine (…) but that famine is setting in
the judges said in their order.
The new measures were requested by South Africa as part of its ongoing case that accuses Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza.
In January the ICJ, also known as the World Court, <https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240126-icj-demands-israel-prevent-genocide-stops-short-of-calling-for-a-ceasefire/>ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza.
In Thursday’s order, the Court reaffirmed the January measures, but added Israel must take action to ensure unhindered provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance including food, water and electricity as well as medical supplies and medical care to Palestinians throughout Gaza.
The judges added that this could be done
by increasing the capacity and number of land crossing points and maintaining them open for as long as necessary
The Court ordered Israel to submit a report in a month after the order to detail how it had given effect to the ruling.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/icj-orders-israel-to-increase-humanitarian-aid-to-gaza-demands-report-in-30-days/
ICJ orders Israel to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, demands report in 30 days
Court says existing provisional humanitarian measures in Strip are inadequate, with ‘famine setting in’
By JEREMY SHARON, AGENCIES and TOI STAFF
March 29, 2024
(8) UN Rapporteur confirms Gaza genocide
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/anatomy-of-a-genocide-report-of-the-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-palestinian-territory-occupied-since-1967-to-human-rights-council-advance-unedited-version-a-hrc-55/
Anatomy of a Genocide – Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 to Human Rights Council – Advance unedited version (A/HRC/55/73)
March 24, 2024
Human Rights Council
Fifty-fifth session
26 February–5 April 2024
Agenda item 7
Human Rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories
Anatomy of a Genocide
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, Francesca Albanese*
Summary
After five months of military operations, Israel has destroyed Gaza. Over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 13,000 children. Over 12,000 are presumed dead and 71,000 injured, many with life-changing mutilations. Seventy percent of residential areas have been destroyed. Eighty percent of the whole population has been forcibly displaced. Thousands of families have lost loved ones or have been wiped out. Many could not bury and mourn their relatives, forced instead to leave their bodies decomposing in homes, in the street or under the rubble. Thousands have been detained and systematically subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment. The incalculable collective trauma will be experienced for generations to come.
By analysing the patterns of violence and Israel’s policies in its onslaught on Gaza, this report concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met. One of the key findings is that Israel’s executive and military leadership and soldiers have intentionally distorted jus in bello principles, subverting their protective functions, in an attempt to legitimize genocidal violence against the Palestinian people. …
Conclusions
93. The overwhelming nature and scale of Israel’s assault on Gaza and the destructive conditions of life it has inflicted reveal an intent to physically destroy Palestinians as a group. This report finds that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the following acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza has been met: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to groups’ members; and deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. Genocidal acts were approved and given effect following statements of genocidal intent issued by senior military and government officials.
94. Israel has sought to conceal its eliminationist conduct of hostilities sanctioning the commission of international crimes as IHL-abiding. Distorting IHL customary rules, including distinction, proportionality and precautions, Israel has de facto treated an entire protected group and its life-sustaining infrastructure as ‘terrorist’ or ‘terrorist-supporting’, thus transforming everything and everyone into either a target or collateral damage, hence killable or destroyable. In this way, no Palestinian in Gaza is safe by definition. This has had devastating, intentional effects, costing the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroying the fabric of life in Gaza and causing irreparable harm to its entire population.
95. Israel’s genocide on the Palestinians in Gaza is an escalatory stage of a longstanding settler colonial process of erasure. For over seven decades this process has suffocated the Palestinian people as a group – demographically, culturally, economically and politically –, seeking to displace it and expropriate and control its land and resources. The ongoing Nakba must be stopped and remedied once and for all. This is an imperative owed to the victims of this highly preventable tragedy, and to future generations in that land. […]
(9) Orthodox Rabbis Condemn call for ‘Humanitarian Pause’
2,500 Orthodox Jewish Rabbis Condemn Reform Judaism Statement Calling for ‘Humanitarian Pause’ in Gaza
Tyler O’Neil
November 02, 2023
The Coalition for Jewish Values, which represents more than 2,500 Orthodox Jewish rabbis in American public policy, sent a letter to the Union for Reform Judaism, condemning that organization’s call for a “humanitarian pause” in Gaza, warning that any such cease-fire would give Hamas terrorists the opportunity to regroup in their attacks against Israel.
“A ‘humanitarian pause’ would be anything but humanitarian—it would permit Hamas to regroup, rearm, feed their families and their allies, while the physical and emotional torment of the Jewish captives and their families continues unabated,” the coalition’s president, Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, and its managing director, Rabbi Yaakov Menken, wrote in a letter sent Thursday. “It would also enable them to murder more Jewish soldiers when the fighting resumed.”
In the letter, first obtained by <https://www.dailysignal.com/author/tyler-oneil/> The Daily Signal, Schonfeld and Menken note that Hamas holds more than 240 hostages in Gaza, according to Israel, “following the worst pogrom against Jews since the Nazi Holocaust.”
“<https://www.dailysignal.com/tag/israel> Israel has imposed an entirely legitimate siege in order to effect the release of those hostages, and has begun to eradicate Hamas so that this genocidal terror organization no longer threatens Jewish lives,” the coalition leaders add. “These two things are not merely acceptable, but moral imperatives.”
Schonfeld and Menken say they were “shocked” to read the Oct. 27 statement, in which the leaders of the Union for Reform Judaism, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and the American Conference of Cantors called for a “humanitarian pause” in Gaza.
The Coalition for Jewish Values cites Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement that a cease-fire now would “simply consolidate what <https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/10/09/5-things-know-hamas-terror-attack-israels-declaration-war/> Hamas has been able to do and allow it to remain where it is and potentially allow it to repeat” the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. The coalition also cites former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said, “People who are calling for a cease-fire now do not understand Hamas. That is not possible. It would be such a gift to Hamas … .”
“These statements rebuke your own,” Schonfeld and Menken write.
“Your statement briefly mentioned the 1,400 dead Israeli soldiers and civilians, devoted one paragraph to the hostages, and followed this with three paragraphs on the ‘innocent civilians in Gaza,’ telling the family, neighbors, and friends of massacred Jews how they should treat the family, neighbors, and friends of the terrorists responsible for this Nazi pogrom,” the coalition leaders add. “The vile barbarism of not only the terrorists, but … the other residents—men, women, and teenagers—who came from Gaza to loot and murder those left alive, went unmentioned.”
“Statements like yours embolden our enemies, and risk both further emotional torment to innocent families and further casualties among those forced to fight for our lives,” Schonfeld and Menken add. “If you cannot bring yourselves to speak for the rights of Jews victimized by inhuman barbarians without equivocation, it would be best to say nothing at all.”
The Union for Reform Judaism statement, unlike some statements calling for a cease-fire, acknowledges the Hamas terrorism and the hostages held in Gaza.
The Reform statement condemns the “unspeakable violence perpetrated on October 7 against Israelis” and notes that “more than 220 people, including babies, women, and the elderly, continue to be held as hostages by Hamas.” (<https://www.ajc.org/news/what-is-known-about-israeli-hostages-taken-by-hamas> The full number is about 245.) The statement calls on the international community to “universally and unequivocally call and work for the immediate release of all the hostages,” and condemns their “kidnapping and ongoing detention” as a “heinous war crime.”
Yet, as Schonfeld and Menken note, the Reform statement does spend three paragraphs focusing on “the tremendous toll this is taking on innocent civilians in Gaza,” calling for the “humanitarian pause” to “ensure that food, water, medicine, and other humanitarian aid can flow more quickly into Gaza.” The statement does not address how any authorities would prevent that aid from flowing directly to Hamas, which controls the government of the region and which frequently repurposes humanitarian relief materials to perpetrate its war against Israel. …