Evidence -v- propaganda; sexual violence on October 7th
JVL Introduction
For some time JVL has planned to publish information about allegations of and the reality of rape and other forms of sexual violence during the 7 October attack on southern Israel. But it has been hard to come to definite conclusions.
We know that incidents of sexual violence and rape are all too common in in war, so we are not surprised that there have been reports of this. But we also know that allegations of atrocities of various kinds accompany every war and that those of orchestrated systematic rape have been used – very effectively – to demonise Hamas. The obvious question is whether or to what extent they are true.
Even to raise questions results in accusations of denial, of not taking the accounts of Israeli victims seriously, compounding the hurt that has been done to them. In this case it is added to accusations of not taking Israeli hurt seriously because of underlying antisemitism.
Of particular note was the article making sensationalist claims in the New York Times, on 28 December 2023. This, in turn came in for heavy criticism (see a recent critique in The Nation here, 1 March 2024). No evidence of systematic mass rape has been found and yet we are now in the sixth month of the horrendous destruction of the Gaza Strip and allegations of systematic rape continue to be made, most recently by UN Special Rapporteur on Sexual Violence following a visit Israel and the West Bank from to January to 14 February.
It is this Report, known as the “Patten Mission” after its primary author Pramila Patten, that is the focus of Finkelstein’s analysis below. As he shows, the evidence for these allegations remains questionable, at best.
We may also question why, given Israel’s extreme hostility to the UN, refusing to engage with the UN High Commission on Human Rights or allow Francesca Albanese (or any previous), Special Rapporteur on Palestine into the country, it co-operated so enthusiastically with this mission.
We would also note that substantial evidence of sexual abuse of Palestinians by Israelis surfaced at much the same time as this report (e.g. Claims of Israeli sexual assault of Palestinian women are credible, UN panel says, Guardian 22 Feb). None of Israel’s alleged atrocities excuses Palestinians using sexual violence against Israelis but the imbalance in the reporting is notable. Why we hear again and again about the “mass systematic rape” on 7 October and not about the Israeli abuse?. Indeed, although not part of its remit to investigate further (para 39), the Mission did visit the West Bank and found evidence of extensive incidents of sexual abuse and violence (e.g.para 81).
We believe – as, indeed, does Norman Finkelstein and every other critical writer we have read – that it is highly likely that there were incidents of rapes and whether this was 2 women or 200 women, it is abhorrent and to be condemned. But it is clear that evidence of systematic, mass rape is lacking. Nevertheless the allegation has played an important part of the strategy to dehumanise and demonise Hamas (and by inference all the Palestinians in Gaza who “voted for them”).
It does nothing to help Israeli or any other victims of rape in conflicts and war and does less than nothing to help Israelis and Israel’s supporters to seek peace, for you obviously cannot make peace with people who are “not fully human”.
LL
This article was originally published by Norman Finkelstein's Blog on Mon 11 Mar 2024. Read the original here.
PRAMILA PATTEN’S RAPE FANTASIES: A Critical Analysis of the UN Report on Sexual Violence during the 7 October Attack
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Finkelstein picks up a key point at the end that has been largely missed, probably deliberately, that it wasn’t just Hamas who broke through the fence but others who may well have been violent criminals, and a few just seeking revenge.
My reading of 7 Oct is that the extent of the freedom to which Hamas and others had in the breakout may well have taken them by surprise as well as the Israelis, which resulted in the high death toll, but some were clearly killed by indiscriminate Israeli action, and the most lurid allegations have been debunked but as Finkelstein says if rapes did occur then it probably wasn’t by those in Hamas.
Al Jazeera has a short video out about ‘friendly fire’ in which Justin Schlosberg comments.
https://youtu.be/8-jhoAs_O-g?si=WoCBvi_jfDmCd47J
On 17 January the New York Times carried a half page article about the work of ZAKA, a volunteer group founded in 1995 whose name is the Hebrew acronym for Disaster Victim Identification. Members of the group work to collect every drop of blood or bone fragment in order that bodies can be buried as completely as possible in accordance with Jewish law. Though members of the group may be first on the scene, sometimes arriving before the police, they are not medical experts or police officers trained in investigating sex crimes, and in their haste to recover and bury bodies from the Hamas attack, may have destroyed any evidence of war crimes. In addition some ZAKA members have given misleading accounts to the news media and imposters have given false information in the group’s name.
Nonetheless some ZAKA volunteers have become unofficial guides to the scenes of the attack speaking to journalists and giving interviews to television networks. Asked about reports that children had been beheaded one of these guides denied making any such claim, but said he had sometimes ‘misspoken’ in the immediate aftermath of the attack. In plain English this means he had lied. What he said he had seen was a burned body with part of the head missing, but it was unclear whether this was a teenager or someone younger.
Unsurprisingly the group’s practices and the reliability of its member’s testimony have been challenged. ZAKA did not document the bodies of the women for evidence of sexual assault , nor did its members stop to take photographs. Either of these might have provided convincing evidence of rape, torture or both. Now any evidence has been literally buried.
Zaka’s dubious atrocity porn propaganda was already being exposed only 11 days after Oct 7th by Brad Pearce on Substack – “If You Say Anything to Anyone, a Zaka Van Will Run You Over” – The Sordid History of the Zaka Rescue Service:
https://www.thewaywardrabbler.com/p/if-you-say-anything-to-anyone-a-zaka
From White House and Downing Street podiums through to Fox, MSNBC and the BBC, it’s all ZAKA now.
This rational analysis is important historically, as also is Finkelstein’s point cited by Marc above. Unfortunately as political arguments they are unlikely to be effective, because the emotional reactions of humans when confronted with real or imagined existential threats are anything but rational – a human weakness which has been exploited by despots for millenia.
Even the most consistent of political worldviews is always structured by a historical narrative, and the confrontation of a community with a sudden unexpected trauma presents an ideal opportunity for rulers to refocus the narrative starting from the date of that trauma. Any subsequent attempt to analyse rationally what led up to the trauma is treated as an act of treachery and a betrayal of the victims.
This trick of refocusing the narrative to start on October 7 2023 has been a highly successful aspect of Israeli hasbara in the western world, even as the mounting atrocities begin to take their toll. It is the trick which compels every corporate commentator on Gaza to start with a routine denunciation of Hamas. If the historical narrative were to start a mere six years ago with the horrific murders and mass maiming of Gazan civilians in the great march of return, the political narrative would have a very different flavour. Of course our own rulers know this too, which is why you will not see or hear it on any of the media which they control.