Gaza War, Part 3

[Anonymous]

Haaretz:
https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/law/2024-01-04/ty-article/.premium/0000018c-d3e4-ddba-abad-d3e502980000?gift=0d660f6ae8134267b732f295253d7d35

The sex crimes investigator on October 7: "We believe there are victims who did not testify. I am available for them".

The 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. Now, three months after the massacre, the organization decided to turn to the public to encourage those who have information on the matter to come and testify.

I think this is my main challenge with the mass rape story. While I don't doubt that atrocities took place, I really really really cannot believe that if there was evidence of mass rape (which would have been at its most obvious and abundant on or near Oct 7), that Israel would have waited two or three months to come out with it guns blazing.

[Anonymous]

That's right! That's right! I un-fock you! We'll never fock again!

[Anonymous]

A very interesting and informative twitter thread on controls Israel imposes on the Palestinian economy - in times of war as well as peace. What is it that they say about people you want to subjugate? Make sure they never become rich. A few bullet points:

- From the outset of the occupation in 1967 Israel enforced a common market and customs union between Israel and the occupied territories. This meant trade and monetary policy, and matters such as customs duties, taxation, and currency, were unilaterally determined by Israel.

- Palestinians paid the same tariffs and same sales tax as Israelis. Foreign trade was fully controlled by Israel. If, for example, Palestinians wanted to export oranges from the Gaza Strip or olive oil from the West Bank to Europe, they could not do so directly. Rather, they had to sell their produce to the now-bankrupt Israel’s Agricultural Export Company AGREXCO, which would then export them to Europe as Israeli products. AGREXCO was also the main exporter of illegal Israeli settlement products to Europe.

- Given the growing disparity between the two economies over time, it created a situation where Palestinians earned like Jordanians but were taxed like Israelis, but unlike either Jordanians or Israelis couldn’t trade freely with the rest of the world.

- One of Israel’s main priorities in the 1993 Oslo Accords was to ensure that the Palestinians would not become economically independent. Which meant Israel was determined to prevent the PA from having the authority to develop trade and monetary policies of its own.

- The PA was prohibited from issuing a currency of its own. VAT was determined by Israel, and the PA was obliged to adjust its own VAT (sales tax) rate commensurate with whatever Israel decided.

- What the Palestinians could (and could not) import and export was also determined by Israel.

- Pursuant to the Paris Protocol Israel also has full control over the clearance of imports and the collection of customs. This means that Israel has the right to inspect and approve/reject any imports destined for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

[Anonymous]

Mondoweiss takes on the NYT mass rape story:

On December 28, the New York Times published an “investigative” report on gender-based violence allegedly committed by Palestinians during the October 7 attack. The newspaper says the story was based on over 150 interviews conducted by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Jeffrey Gettleman, along with Anat Schwartz and Adam Sella. The story concludes that Hamas fighters engaged in systematic rape and sexual violence against Israeli women.

The story itself repeats October 7 testimonies that have been previously published and already debunked and discredited, but the Times investigation hinges predominantly on one central story, the story of the rape of “Gal Abdush,” who is described by the Times as “The Woman in the Black Dress.”

Although claiming its story proves that “the attacks against women were not isolated events but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct. 7” the veracity of the New York Times story was undermined almost as soon as it was published, including from the Abdush family itself who says there is no proof Gal Abdush was raped and that the New York Times interviewed them under false pretenses.

On December 29, the Israeli website ‘YNET’ published an interview with Etti Brakha, Gal Abdush’s mother. In the interview, the mother says that the family knew nothing about the sexual assault issue until the piece in the Times was published: “We didn’t know about the rape at all. We only knew after a New York Times journalist contacted us. They said they matched evidence and concluded that she had been sexually assaulted.”

Then, on January 1, Nissim Abdush, Gal's husband's brother, appeared in an interview on Israeli Channel 13. During the 14-minute interview, Nissim repeatedly denied that his sister-in-law was raped. He explained that his brother Nagi had called him at 7:00 in the morning, saying his wife was killed, and he was next to her body. Then he continued to communicate until 7:44 and never mentioned anything related to sexual assault. Nissim also stated that no official party informed them of these doubts or this investigation, neither the police nor forensic experts. In the interview, Abdush reiterated that his brother’s wife was not raped and that “the media invented it.”

Gal’s sisters also denied allegations of rape. Her sister Tali Barakha posted on Instagram, saying: ‘No one can know what Gal went through there! Also, what Nagi went through, but I can’t cooperate with those who say many things that are not true. I plead with you to stop spreading lies, there is a family and children behind them, no one can know if there was rape or if she was burned while alive. Have you gone mad? I spoke to Nagi personally! At 7 o’clock, Gal was killed by those animals, and they shot her in the heart. Nagi was alive until quarter past eight…”

Likewise, Miral Altar, Gals’ sister, wrote a comment on Instagram in response to a video of a hasbara account. Altar said: ‘I can’t understand all these reports. There were many difficult stories, why this story in particular? It’s based on only one video published without the family’s knowledge… It is true that the scenes in the video are not easy, but it’s clear that the dress is lifted upwards and not in its natural state, and half her head is burned because they threw a grenade at the car. I don’t want to be understood as if I’m justifying what they did; they are animals, they raped and beheaded people, but in my sister’s case, this is not true. At 6:51, Gal sent us a message on WhatsApp saying ’we are at the border, and you can’t imagine sounds of explosions around us’. At 7 o’clock, my brother-in-law called his brother and said they shot Gal and she’s dying. It doesn’t make any sense that in four minutes, they raped her, slaughtered her, and burned her?”

https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/family-of-key-case-in-new-york-times-october-7-sexual-violence-report-renounces-story-says-reporters-manipulated-them/?utm_content=buffer04e14&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=buffer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mondoweiss takes on the NYT mass rape story:

On December 28, the New York Times published an “investigative” report on gender-based violence allegedly committed by Palestinians during the October 7 attack. The newspaper says the story was based on over 150 interviews conducted by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Jeffrey Gettleman, along with Anat Schwartz and Adam Sella. The story concludes that Hamas fighters engaged in systematic rape and sexual violence against Israeli women.

The story itself repeats October 7 testimonies that have been previously published and already debunked and discredited, but the Times investigation hinges predominantly on one central story, the story of the rape of “Gal Abdush,” who is described by the Times as “The Woman in the Black Dress.”

Although claiming its story proves that “the attacks against women were not isolated events but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct. 7” the veracity of the New York Times story was undermined almost as soon as it was published, including from the Abdush family itself who says there is no proof Gal Abdush was raped and that the New York Times interviewed them under false pretenses.

On December 29, the Israeli website ‘YNET’ published an interview with Etti Brakha, Gal Abdush’s mother. In the interview, the mother says that the family knew nothing about the sexual assault issue until the piece in the Times was published: “We didn’t know about the rape at all. We only knew after a New York Times journalist contacted us. They said they matched evidence and concluded that she had been sexually assaulted.”

Then, on January 1, Nissim Abdush, Gal's husband's brother, appeared in an interview on Israeli Channel 13. During the 14-minute interview, Nissim repeatedly denied that his sister-in-law was raped. He explained that his brother Nagi had called him at 7:00 in the morning, saying his wife was killed, and he was next to her body. Then he continued to communicate until 7:44 and never mentioned anything related to sexual assault. Nissim also stated that no official party informed them of these doubts or this investigation, neither the police nor forensic experts. In the interview, Abdush reiterated that his brother’s wife was not raped and that “the media invented it.”

Gal’s sisters also denied allegations of rape. Her sister Tali Barakha posted on Instagram, saying: ‘No one can know what Gal went through there! Also, what Nagi went through, but I can’t cooperate with those who say many things that are not true. I plead with you to stop spreading lies, there is a family and children behind them, no one can know if there was rape or if she was burned while alive. Have you gone mad? I spoke to Nagi personally! At 7 o’clock, Gal was killed by those animals, and they shot her in the heart. Nagi was alive until quarter past eight…”

Likewise, Miral Altar, Gals’ sister, wrote a comment on Instagram in response to a video of a hasbara account. Altar said: ‘I can’t understand all these reports. There were many difficult stories, why this story in particular? It’s based on only one video published without the family’s knowledge… It is true that the scenes in the video are not easy, but it’s clear that the dress is lifted upwards and not in its natural state, and half her head is burned because they threw a grenade at the car. I don’t want to be understood as if I’m justifying what they did; they are animals, they raped and beheaded people, but in my sister’s case, this is not true. At 6:51, Gal sent us a message on WhatsApp saying ’we are at the border, and you can’t imagine sounds of explosions around us’. At 7 o’clock, my brother-in-law called his brother and said they shot Gal and she’s dying. It doesn’t make any sense that in four minutes, they raped her, slaughtered her, and burned her?”

https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/family-of-key-case-in-new-york-times-october-7-sexual-violence-report-renounces-story-says-reporters-manipulated-them/?utm_content=buffer04e14&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=buffer

There are so many lies out there. It seems like they have to put out these fake torture porn stories so that Americans can wave away the ethnic cleansing and the 30,000 dead and missing in Gaza. It's disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Conveniently the lies you’re choosing to focus on.

[Anonymous]

I’m shocked that no one is out there protesting the bombing by the Sunnis against the Shiites. Talk about context and complexity!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m shocked that no one is out there protesting the bombing by the Sunnis against the Shiites. Talk about context and complexity!

Nothing complex about radical Sunnis hating the Shia. When the Shia protest, it’s never covered or covered with bias bc the West chose to ally with the Sunni regimes, even if they are Sunni rulers oppressing the Shia majority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m shocked that no one is out there protesting the bombing by the Sunnis against the Shiites. Talk about context and complexity!

You talking about the Israeli terrorist attack at the funeral?

[Anonymous]

That was not the Israelis unless you think that the Israelis and Islamic ajihad are now friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haaretz:
https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/law/2024-01-04/ty-article/.premium/0000018c-d3e4-ddba-abad-d3e502980000?gift=0d660f6ae8134267b732f295253d7d35

The sex crimes investigator on October 7: "We believe there are victims who did not testify. I am available for them".

The 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. Now, three months after the massacre, the organization decided to turn to the public to encourage those who have information on the matter to come and testify.

I think this is my main challenge with the mass rape story. While I don't doubt that atrocities took place, I really really really cannot believe that if there was evidence of mass rape (which would have been at its most obvious and abundant on or near Oct 7), that Israel would have waited two or three months to come out with it guns blazing.

Maybe because these rapes have been so grossly politicized and there’s not only the trauma these victims have suffered but the very legitimate concern for their ongoing safety. Also, two months isn’t a long time … in what other scenario where mass rapes have been used as a weapon of war did you demand that the victims come forward within weeks?

Korean of Japanese rapes in WWII took years - decades - to come forward in many case. I sure as hell believe them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haaretz:
https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/law/2024-01-04/ty-article/.premium/0000018c-d3e4-ddba-abad-d3e502980000?gift=0d660f6ae8134267b732f295253d7d35

The sex crimes investigator on October 7: "We believe there are victims who did not testify. I am available for them".

The 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. Now, three months after the massacre, the organization decided to turn to the public to encourage those who have information on the matter to come and testify.

I think this is my main challenge with the mass rape story. While I don't doubt that atrocities took place, I really really really cannot believe that if there was evidence of mass rape (which would have been at its most obvious and abundant on or near Oct 7), that Israel would have waited two or three months to come out with it guns blazing.

Maybe because these rapes have been so grossly politicized and there’s not only the trauma these victims have suffered but the very legitimate concern for their ongoing safety. Also, two months isn’t a long time … in what other scenario where mass rapes have been used as a weapon of war did you demand that the victims come forward within weeks?

Korean of Japanese rapes in WWII took years - decades - to come forward in many case. I sure as hell believe them.

Fresh after Oct 7 there hasn't been time yet for anything to become politicized, and sympathy for the 10/7 victims was at its highest. If rape victims were dead, their safety was no longer a concern. It's more like...why are untrained, un-credentialed, religious extremist volunteers running around giving interviews? Why are they being described as "chief coronary officers" when they have no qualifications to that effect? Why, after having proven to be liars, are they being quoted again? This is so bad for the victims. And could have easily been avoided.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m shocked that no one is out there protesting the bombing by the Sunnis against the Shiites. Talk about context and complexity!

You talking about the Israeli terrorist attack at the funeral?

If you are referring to what happened in Iran at the memorial service for Soleimani, that was ISIS. They claimed responsibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haaretz:
https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/law/2024-01-04/ty-article/.premium/0000018c-d3e4-ddba-abad-d3e502980000?gift=0d660f6ae8134267b732f295253d7d35

The sex crimes investigator on October 7: "We believe there are victims who did not testify. I am available for them".

The 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. Now, three months after the massacre, the organization decided to turn to the public to encourage those who have information on the matter to come and testify.

I think this is my main challenge with the mass rape story. While I don't doubt that atrocities took place, I really really really cannot believe that if there was evidence of mass rape (which would have been at its most obvious and abundant on or near Oct 7), that Israel would have waited two or three months to come out with it guns blazing.

Maybe because these rapes have been so grossly politicized and there’s not only the trauma these victims have suffered but the very legitimate concern for their ongoing safety. Also, two months isn’t a long time … in what other scenario where mass rapes have been used as a weapon of war did you demand that the victims come forward within weeks?

Korean of Japanese rapes in WWII took years - decades - to come forward in many case. I sure as hell believe them.

It's appalling how progressives are minimizing the torture and murder of all those women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mondoweiss takes on the NYT mass rape story:

On December 28, the New York Times published an “investigative” report on gender-based violence allegedly committed by Palestinians during the October 7 attack. The newspaper says the story was based on over 150 interviews conducted by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Jeffrey Gettleman, along with Anat Schwartz and Adam Sella. The story concludes that Hamas fighters engaged in systematic rape and sexual violence against Israeli women.

The story itself repeats October 7 testimonies that have been previously published and already debunked and discredited, but the Times investigation hinges predominantly on one central story, the story of the rape of “Gal Abdush,” who is described by the Times as “The Woman in the Black Dress.”

Although claiming its story proves that “the attacks against women were not isolated events but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct. 7” the veracity of the New York Times story was undermined almost as soon as it was published, including from the Abdush family itself who says there is no proof Gal Abdush was raped and that the New York Times interviewed them under false pretenses.

On December 29, the Israeli website ‘YNET’ published an interview with Etti Brakha, Gal Abdush’s mother. In the interview, the mother says that the family knew nothing about the sexual assault issue until the piece in the Times was published: “We didn’t know about the rape at all. We only knew after a New York Times journalist contacted us. They said they matched evidence and concluded that she had been sexually assaulted.”

Then, on January 1, Nissim Abdush, Gal's husband's brother, appeared in an interview on Israeli Channel 13. During the 14-minute interview, Nissim repeatedly denied that his sister-in-law was raped. He explained that his brother Nagi had called him at 7:00 in the morning, saying his wife was killed, and he was next to her body. Then he continued to communicate until 7:44 and never mentioned anything related to sexual assault. Nissim also stated that no official party informed them of these doubts or this investigation, neither the police nor forensic experts. In the interview, Abdush reiterated that his brother’s wife was not raped and that “the media invented it.”

Gal’s sisters also denied allegations of rape. Her sister Tali Barakha posted on Instagram, saying: ‘No one can know what Gal went through there! Also, what Nagi went through, but I can’t cooperate with those who say many things that are not true. I plead with you to stop spreading lies, there is a family and children behind them, no one can know if there was rape or if she was burned while alive. Have you gone mad? I spoke to Nagi personally! At 7 o’clock, Gal was killed by those animals, and they shot her in the heart. Nagi was alive until quarter past eight…”

Likewise, Miral Altar, Gals’ sister, wrote a comment on Instagram in response to a video of a hasbara account. Altar said: ‘I can’t understand all these reports. There were many difficult stories, why this story in particular? It’s based on only one video published without the family’s knowledge… It is true that the scenes in the video are not easy, but it’s clear that the dress is lifted upwards and not in its natural state, and half her head is burned because they threw a grenade at the car. I don’t want to be understood as if I’m justifying what they did; they are animals, they raped and beheaded people, but in my sister’s case, this is not true. At 6:51, Gal sent us a message on WhatsApp saying ’we are at the border, and you can’t imagine sounds of explosions around us’. At 7 o’clock, my brother-in-law called his brother and said they shot Gal and she’s dying. It doesn’t make any sense that in four minutes, they raped her, slaughtered her, and burned her?”

https://mondoweiss.net/2024/01/family-of-key-case-in-new-york-times-october-7-sexual-violence-report-renounces-story-says-reporters-manipulated-them/?utm_content=buffer04e14&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=buffer

There are so many lies out there. It seems like they have to put out these fake torture porn stories so that Americans can wave away the ethnic cleansing and the 30,000 dead and missing in Gaza. It's disgusting.

Would this NY Times blockbuster investigative report have been unconditionally accepted as fact (and propagated so eagerly) if the subject was a Palestinian civilian raped by IDF soldiers and the reporters were named Abu Akleh, Al-Dahdouh and Khoudary instead of Gettleman, Schwartz and Sella? Of course not. But even pointing that out will bring howls of anti-semitism - anything to slander and shut up those who dare to criticize the sacred cow.

On the surface, the truth or lack thereof in the report's assertions actually doesn't matter that much - a horrific series of attacks occurred on 10/7, regardless. Hamas should be brought to justice and eliminated under any scenario. However, knowingly false assertions (the 40 beheaded babies, the baby baked in the oven, the clothesline babies, the baby cut from its mother's womb, etc.) have already been used by Bibi, most Israeli hardliners, Biden, Blinken, and most American Jews who identify as Zionists in the past several months to gin up emotional outrage and justify Israel's massively disproportionate response. Knowing that this report's assertions seem headed to the same trash heap AFTER being used to justify the atrocity of Israel's "humanitarian mission" in Gaza is likewise sickening.

It's awful enough what ACTUALLY happened in Israel on 10/7 and since in Gaza. We don't more lies to make those facts any worse.