One of the worst atrocities of sexual violence in the century
What was whispered in the first weeks since the Oct. 7 massacre has recently come to the forefront as a whole host of governmental agencies began tackling this painful issue: The biggest rape investigation in Israeli history.Read more at the link. This has turned out to be one of the most horrifying cases of sexual violence of the 21st century's history, and many women, children, and men were graphically victimized in the worst ways possible.
The Israel Police's severe crimes unit, Lahav 433, has collected numerous testimonies from the Black Saturday massacre over the past month to be used in the legal proceedings that are to come, as well as for commemoration purposes.
"A significant share of the murders were committed by civilians," the investigators note. For the first time, evidence has been gathered from members of the forensic teams, and the investigators in the Israel Police are trying to build a collective case against Hamas terrorists who were captured.
The evidence includes, among other things, information gathered through the interrogation of the terrorists, as well as testimonies of survivors. All these testimonies and evidence will serve as official evidence for the legal process when the time comes, as well as a testament to the atrocities. These are compelling testimonies that include horrifying descriptions of what people saw that day when they arrived at the scenes of death, which can prove that Hamas terrorists committed sexual offenses against women before executing them.
According to testimonies from ZAKA – a Jerusalem-based International Rescue Unit that operates a specially trained team of volunteer paramedics and search and rescue – there were also cases of sexual abuse against some of the men found. In some cases, intimate body parts of the victims were violated. One member of the ZAKA volunteers told investigators in a trembling voice that in many cases, "it was hard to tell whether it was a man or a woman."
For the preparation of this article, we spoke with members of Lahav 433 and the ZAKA and examined materials published to the public from the interrogations carried out by the Shin Bet security agency. We also spoke with the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs, and leading women professionals in their fields dealing with the treatment of sexual trauma victims. From all the conversations and testimonies, a clear picture emerges: Hamas-ISIS monsters committed brutal acts of rape and harmed women during their assault.
Now we must definitely hope more can be made aware of this. But also important is what'll bound to happen in coming years when it comes to survivors, and how other parts of Israeli society will treat them. As somebody who's long written about offensive behavior of Haredi extremists towards women, and even non-Haredis who tolerate such outrageous behavior, it remains to be seen - will the Haredis and the non-Haredi apologists recognize that their past behavior must cease? Point: it's absolutely true the victims of the Hamas' sexual violence were attacked because they were Jewish. But that's only part of it. Many of those women and children who fell victim to the Hamas were also graphically raped and murdered over exactly the same petty issues Haredi extremists were complaining about. That women didn't dress modestly, that they sang and danced, and in the case of the Islamofascists, that they weren't wearing burkas and niqabs. And lest we forget, even religiously observant Israeli women, Haredi or otherwise, have also long been victimized by Islamofascists for even less. Which is why some soul-searching is now required from the ultra-Orthodox. Consider: many Islamists no doubt read articles in the news about the anti-female discrimination ocurring via Haredis, and were surely convinced Israelis weren't serious about defending women's dignity and safety, which may have influenced the Hamas to attack from Gaza. A similar argument could also be made that the demonstrations against judicial reform by Israeli leftists also undermined perceptions. And the worst part is that all these issues together took away vital attention from the need to ponder how the Religion of Peace was bound to be waiting to attack anew, which tragically did happen.
On which note, let us be perfectly clear - within less than a year, there can be no doubt a lot of the survivors of the Hamas bloodbath are going to be riding Israel's public transportation and even visiting cities like Bet Shemesh. And if any Haredi, no matter their standing, lifts even a tiny finger against one of these women over a non-issue, they're going to cause a considerable amount of trouble the victims of Hamas will surely not stand for. That's why "customs" like not sitting next to a woman on a bus or plane have got to go. Ditto any demands a woman dress modestly. There haven't seemed to have been many incidents like what the Haredis caused in the past decade occurring in the month after the tragedy in the south of Israel. But if they don't start taking responsibility, they're really going to cause severe damage that won't improve Israel's situation one bit in the long run.
And that's why, like I said, there's certain "customs" the ultra-Orthodox go by that must be abolished, and they'll have to start proving they can concentrate on far more important matters like Islamic terrorism much more than they have until now.
Labels: anti-semitism, haredi corruption, islam, Israel, Jerusalem, jihad, Knesset, military, misogyny, Moonbattery, sexual violence, terrorism, war on terror