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Zaka stories have been essential to justifying Israel’s all-out war against Gaza, which has killed around 30,000 Palestinians in less than five months. Speaking at the United Nations in December, Zaka deputy commander Simcha Greiniman broke down while describing alleged atrocities. He later told the same stories to a meeting of British parliamentarians.
Even when Western media outlets have questioned Landau, the inquiries were half-hearted. The Times asked Landau “about reports, attributed to him, that children had been beheaded on Oct. 7.” It reported: “Mr. Landau denied making the claim, though he acknowledged sometimes misspeaking in the immediate aftermath of the attack. What he saw himself, he said, was a small, burned body with at least part of the head missing, perhaps severed by the force of a blast. It was unclear, he added, if it was the body of teenager or someone younger.”
While the Times said the statements had been “attributed” to Landau, there is no dispute he said them. He told the stories on camera, and the clips were posted widely online. He told CNN he found “a body, of a 14, 15-year-old. Head chopped off. We were looking around for the head. Couldn’t find it.” On India’s Republic TV, Landau said of beheaded children, “Yes, this occurred. This happened.” He made similar comments to Channel 14 Israel and CBS News. There is no evidence Hamas beheaded children or babies. As The Intercept reported at the time, the Israeli military said it couldn’t confirm the claims just four days after the attack.
Media outlets, including Israeli television news programs, have debunked numerous stories about dead babies, calling them “fictional.”
This article doesn’t seriously question whether rapes occurred, even acknowledging “Sexual violence is common in warfare”. It just says that rape wasn’t part of an organized campaign, and for all I know it may be right.
It debunks many of the rape cases by pointing out there is either evidence contradicting them, or by showing that the “witnesses” already have a reputation for lying. since they were the people that claimed they saw 40 beheaded babies and women cut open. Which did not happen according to the IDF themselves.
For another list of massive inconsistencies there is also this article.
The article completely ignores one eyewitness I named above, Ron Fregle.
And it suggests that maybe Raz Cohen witnessed a rape not by Hamas, but by Palestinian civilians. Is that supposed to somehow better?
Because Ron Fregle was not even mentioned as a witness in the Screams without Words article. In fact when searching his name only irrelevant stuff comes up. Is he in any article or is it just that video?
After a million “witnesses” being exposed for making false statements you can’t seriously expect me to take these 'eyewitnesses" seriously anymore.
There are a lot of CCTV cameras in israel an somehow none of them manages to capture any rape? And there’s no forensic evidence? And all of the witnesses bring stories filled with holes or straight up lies?
Hey quick update, new article dropped from The Intercept about this.
https://theintercept.com/2024/02/28/new-york-times-anat-schwartz-october-7/
Again, the article does not claim that no rapes occurred:
It argues that the NYT violated its editorial standards, which is an entirely different question.
It also tries to cast doubt on Cohen’s eyewitness account, but I find it unpersuasive. First it points out that Cohen said “The terrorists, people from Gaza, raped girls” but only described one incident. Big deal. This was not a deposition. People often generalize, especially about shocking things. People say things like “Putin kills his political opponents” and “Trump rapes women” even if they only know about Navalny and Carroll.
It also points out that Cohen’s companion saw a woman stabbed whereas Cohen saw a woman raped and stabbed. Again, unpersuasive. They weren’t shooting a documentary, they were hiding. It’s entirely possible they saw different parts of an event, or even different women. If you read eyewitness accounts of the Parkland shooting you will find that not everyone mentions the exact same details, but that certainly doesn’t mean they are liars.
If I claim you raped someone, I have to provide evidence. I can’t say “prove to me that you didn’t rape someone”
The article claims that there is no evidence for any rapes occurring. Which means that it did not occur.
If mass rape had really occurred then it should be really easy to find a single piece of evidence.
Eyewitness accounts are evidence.
In fact for rape prosecutions, they are often the only evidence.
This is true. Which is why the Palestinians women that were raped by the IDF were actually raped by the IDF.
The problem is that after so many false israeli “eyewitnesses” it’s rather difficult to take one of them who was not even involved in the huge false investigation by NYT where they turned over every rock to find made up rape fanfics seriously.
Who are the “false eyewitnesses”?
Your article only mentioned one eyewitness, Raz Cohen. Everyone else interviewed for the article was not actually there on 10/7.