The claim that those who broke out of their cage on October 7, 2023, raped Israeli women is a blood libel. Canadian media and politicians have widely disseminated this illogical claim to justify a holocaust in Gaza.
This week the Israeli government rejected an investigation into sexual assault allegations against Hamas requested by Pramila Patten, United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. In explaining its refusal to investigate the allegations against Hamas, Haaretz quoted the director of the international department of the Israeli Women’s Lobby, Mia Schocken, saying: “the clear concern is that Israel will be the one to be added to the blacklist of entities and countries that engage in sexual violence in conflicts, while…Hamas will actually remain off the list.”
Unlike the largely spurious claims against Palestinians, Israeli officials have in fact repeatedly raped Palestinians. In response to Israel blocking the UN rapporteur from investigating claims against Hamas, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor called on the UN to blacklist Israel over its obstruction of an international investigation as well as its systematic sexual violence.
Israel blocking the UN from probing purported Hamas rape follows a report in Yedioth Ahronoth last week confirming that no October 7 Israeli rape victim has come forward in 15 months. “In the end, we don’t have any complainants”, explained the leader of Israel’s Southern District Prosecutor’s Office Moran Gez. “What was presented in the media compared to what will eventually come together will be entirely different.” Gez added that her office “approached women’s rights organizations and asked for cooperation. They told us that no one had approached them.”
Gez confirmed what was already known but obscured in a haze of genocidal Jewish supremacist propaganda. In an article detailing a series of instances where Canadian officials used allegations of sexual assault to justify violence, 13 months ago I wrote “no Israeli rape victim(s) has been presented.” By that point Electronic Intifada, Grayzone and Mondoweiss had all challenged the mass rape claims. Subsequently, Al Jeezera confirmed the left media’s reporting through its investigation of the rape claims and by detailing the daring October 7 operation, which was designed to break through the cage, take out Israeli military posts and bring Israelis to Gaza to exchange for Palestinians hostages. There wasn’t much time to mass rape. (Resistance fighters committed atrocities yet some of what’s blamed on them is Israeli forces following the Hannibal directive killing Israelis.)
But the truth of the sexual violence has been entirely ignored in the dominant Canadian media. Instead, the media and politicians have promoted the genocide enabling lie. On January 10, I searched the Canadian Newsstand major dailies database since October 7, 2023, for the words Israel, Hamas and rape. There were 851 mentions and another 189 mentions of Israel, Hamas and “sexual assault” (in quotes). A quick scan through the articles suggests most refer to the unproven Hamas rape claims.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh have all echoed the anti-Palestinian blood libel. A year ago foreign minister Melanie Joly posted, “Using sexual violence as a tactic of war is a crime. We strongly condemn SGBV [sexual based violence], including rape, perpetrated by Hamas against women in Israel on October 7. We believe Israeli women.”
The head of the University of Alberta’s sexual assault centre was fired for signing a public letter calling for a ceasefire, which included criticism of Jagmeet Singh for “repeating the unverified accusation that Palestinians were guilty of sexual violence.” The media also hounded other prominent signatories of that letter.
Ten weeks into Israel’s holocaust in Gaza former Conservative minister Lisa Raitt, Ontario NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo and Ontario Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne held a press conference to support Israel’s “Believe All Women” campaign. The former Canadian politicians asked Ottawa to commit $1 million to Israel’s investigations into Hamas’ sexual violence. The government subsequently obliged. Joly also offered the services of the RCMP to assist Israel in its investigation of purported sexual violence. But, 15 months later we’re still waiting for a name.
The rape blood libel has been used to justify crimes of a Naziesque variety. In “‘When You Leave Israel and Enter Gaza, You Are God’: Inside the Minds of IDF Soldiers Who Commit War Crimes” Haaretz recently quoted an Israeli soldier saying, “I felt like, like, like a Nazi … it looked exactly like we were actually the Nazis and they were the Jews.”
That’s correct and the Nazi hunters of today are pursuing Israelis internationally. With fascinating historical parallels, one of those Nazi Israeli soldiers recently fled prosecution to Argentina.
Others have come to Canada. As was the case after World War II, genocidal supremacists are entering Canada with ease while holocaust victims are facing extreme security checks. On Friday Le Devoir reported that in a year after establishing a temporary visa program for residents of Gaza only 550 Palestinians have made it here. Conversely, over 10,000 Israelis have come to Canada with most benefiting from a special three-year work or study permit the government introduced for Israelis that offers a path to permanent residency. Many of these individuals, alongside dozens of Canadian citizens, have participated in the Gaza holocaust.
None of the dominant media or politicians are interested in war criminals coming to Canada. They are more interested in Israeli concocted lies about Palestinians.
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