New York Times's Sexual Violence Exposee challenged by Kibbutz leaders: “It’s not true"

 Kibbutz Be'eri spokesman Michal Paikin denied the accounts contained in the report published by the New York Times in December of last year, under the title "Screams Without Words," in which allegations were made about Hamas' use of "violence." The body was used as a weapon on October 7,” according to the newspaper’s description.

In his statements to the  Intercept, the spokesman for Kibbutz Be'eri, an agricultural community within the Gaza Strip, refuted the accounts reported by the American newspaper.

He said that “two of the three victims, who were specifically singled out by the New York Times in a report published in December, which claimed that Hamas deliberately used sexual violence as a weapon during the October 7 attacks, were not in fact "You are victims of sexual assault."

The Intercept website noted that "Paikin's rejection of the Times report on the kibbutz further undermines the credibility of the controversial article."

The American news site added, "One of the victims of the alleged sexual assault, known as the woman in black, was Gal Abdush, whose family members objected to the allegations made by The Times."

When Paikin was asked, as The Intercept reported, about the other two victims, he replied, "They were just shot. I'm just saying, but they were shot, they were not sexually assaulted."

In his interview, Kibbutz Be'eri spokesman Michal Paikin also questioned "the graphic, highly detailed claims of the Israeli special forces medic, who served as the source of the claim, and which were published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, and other media outlets." .

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported, in an article in January, that “the Israeli police are finding it difficult to find eyewitnesses to confirm that sexual assaults were committed on October 7th.”

In the second half of last February, United Nations human rights experts expressed their deep concern about the arbitrary detention of hundreds of Palestinian women and girls, including human rights defenders, journalists and humanitarian workers, in Gaza and the West Bank, since 7 October.

The experts added in their report: “We are particularly distressed by reports that detained Palestinian women and girls have also been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male officers in the Israeli army.”

The experts said that "at least two Palestinian detainees were raped, while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence."

Related to this matter, Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Sexual Violence in Conflict Areas, was criticized by journalists due to a report she prepared at the request of Israel to investigate allegations of sexual violence during the “Al-Aqsa Flood” attack last October 7.

The criticism came during a press conference at the United Nations headquarters, regarding her visit with her team to Israel and the occupied West Bank in the period between January 29 and February 14 of last year, on the grounds that she had not met anyone who had been subjected to sexual violence and was content with relying on the testimonies of witnesses chosen by the occupation authorities. .

Patten indicated that she and her team held 33 meetings with institutions, ministry officials, and Israeli security forces, and conducted tours of military bases, morgues, and other areas linked to allegations of sexual violence during the October 7 attacks.

It stated that the team viewed 5,000 photos and about 50 hours of footage, and stated that 34 people were interviewed, including those who were attacked on October 7, witnesses and released prisoners.

"Despite our efforts, we have not met anyone who was sexually assaulted on October 7," she said.

She pointed out that the visits were not carried out under the authority of the United Nations and did not carry the status of an “investigation,” indicating that the main goal was to collect information for the report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations on sexual violence in conflict situations.

She listed the constraints they faced in the process of gathering information such as changes in the “crime” scene, shortages of professional forensic equipment, inaccurate and unreliable interpretations and interventions by non-specialists, obstacles to reaching victims, severe burns on bodies, and lack of trust in national and international organizations. , including the United Nations.