NYT story on alleged rape by Hamas further debunked

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media + News websites
5 Jan 2024 11:21
6 Shares

The family emphasizes the absence of evidence supporting the claim that their daughter was raped.

In this Thursday, May 6, 2021 file photo, a sign for The New York Times hangs above the entrance to its building, in New York. (AP)

The Israeli family involved in a key case mentioned in the October 7 New York Times report on alleged sexual violence by Hamas fighters has disavowed the published story, asserting that reporters manipulated their statements, Press TV reported, citing Israeli media.

On December 28, The New York Times published a narrative claiming that members of the Palestinian Hamas Resistance movement engaged in a pattern of sexual violence against Israeli women during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7.

The report, authored by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jeffrey Gettleman, along with Anat Schwartz and Adam Sella, claimed to be based on over 150 interviews with alleged victims or their families. However, it mainly reiterated testimonies from October 7 that had been previously published, debunked, and discredited.

Meanwhile, a significant portion of the report, approximately one-third, was dedicated to the Abdush family. The daughter of the family, Gal, was often referred to as "the woman in the black dress," during Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. The report specifically highlighted how she was allegedly subjected to sexual assault. It centered on footage captured on October 8 by Eden Wessely, who subsequently shared it on her social media accounts.

One day following the publication of the report, the Israeli news site Ynet interviewed Gal's parents. They emphasized the absence of evidence supporting the claim that she was raped, asserting that the newspaper's reporters had interviewed them under false pretenses. The parents stated that they were unaware of the sexual assault issue until the article in the American daily was published. Additionally, Gal's sisters vehemently refuted the allegations of rape.

On January 1, Nissim Abdush, Nagi's brother-in-law, consistently refuted any claims of his sister-in-law being raped during an interview for Israeli Channel 13.

Hamas denies NYT report of rape on Oct. 7

Earlier this month, Hamas politburo member Basem Naim stated that the Western media and news agencies are “biased to what the Israeli propaganda says [in terms of] lies and slanders against the Palestinians and their resistance.”

Naim added that The New York Times report was based on accounts given indirectly by “women who said they heard other women reiterating these accusations,” but there is “no conclusive evidence."

They've told you that Hamas are monsters and rapists. But what do their recently released FEMALE Israeli captives have to say? Listen to the truth: pic.twitter.com/ECXs4RcFKY
— Yaaqub Hakam (@YaaqubHakam) December 29, 2023

Naim contended that the report further contradicts statements from Israeli women who spoke positively about the treatment they received from Palestinian fighters on October 7. He also pointed to accounts from released Israeli female captives, emphasizing the Resistance fighter's willingness to provide for their needs despite the challenging situation in Gaza. According to Naim, the Islamic values and culture of Hamas members prevent them from engaging in such actions.

'Israel' looked hard for evidence of rape on October 7, nothing found

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the Israeli police are finding paramount difficulty locating and finding any Israeli settlers who were victims of sexual assaults or witnesses of such acts allegedly committed by the Hamas Resistance movement during their October 7 Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

According to Haaretz, one of the main outlets propagating the claim that the Palestinian Resistance fighters sexually assaulted Israeli women on October 7, the police cannot find any victims or any witnesses of any form of sexual assault.

"Even in the few cases in which the [police] collected testimony about sexual offenses committed on October 7, it failed to connect the acts with the victims who were harmed by them," Haaretz said.

Out of desperation, after no cases of sexual assault were found and as the Israeli occupation seeks to not portray itself in bad light and U-turn on its allegations that the Resistance raped Israeli settlers, the police are calling on the public to come forward and give "testimonies" on the matter.

Now, as the Israelis claim that the Palestinian Resistance raped women, it might just be the pot calling the kettle black.

During an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on December 5, Josh Paul, who served as the director of congressional and public affairs for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs for over 11 years, recalled an incident when he was formerly a part of the human rights vetting process for arms going to "Israel".

Paul detailed how a charity called the Defense of Children International Palestine drew the attention of the State Department to "credible allegations" of a 13-year-old Palestinian raped in the al-Mascobiyya detention center in al-Quds.

The former US official emphasized that it was important to condemn atrocities that happen "every day to Palestinians in the West Bank."

After bringing the allegations forward to the Israeli entity, Paul recalled that the very next day the Israelis “removed their computers and declared them a terrorist entity."

Israeli hypocrisy

Numerous Israeli and US officials have sought to defame the Palestinian Resistance by reporting on unverified information provided by "Israel's" i24 TV correspondent, who claimed that Hamas beheaded 40 babies, a claim that went on to become viral, as did its debunking.

Mainstream Western media and US politicians remain absent-minded to the extensive crimes carried out by the Israeli occupation against Palestinians and civilians, specifically children in the region.

"The most moral army in the world" has murdered 22,438 civilians in #Gaza in under 3 months.

According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, in the past 24 hours alone, the Israeli occupation committed 13 massacres against Gazan families, killing more than 125 Palestinians.

This is… pic.twitter.com/2s6H8jrQOC
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) January 4, 2024

Nearly 22,438 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israeli aggression.

In short, once again, the West, as it did with the thousands of videos and photos of mutilated and murdered Palestinian children in Gaza, ignored the many red flags surrounding the claim that the Palestinian Resistance raped Israeli women during Operation al-Aqsa Flood.