U.S. Vice President’s remarks come amid allegations from Israel’s critics that claims of sexual and gender-based violence were either fabricated or exaggerated in order to provide justification for its military response in Gaza
Speaking at an event dedicated to raising awareness on conflict-related sexual violence, including the airing of Sheryl Sandberg’s “Screams Before Silence” documentary, “On October 7, Hamas committed horrific acts of sexual violence,” Harris said.
Her remarks come amid steady criticism from Israel’s critics on the left that claims of sexual and gender-based violence were either fabricated or exaggerated in order to provide justification for its military response in Gaza following October 7.
“In the days after October 7, I saw images of bloodied Israeli women abducted,” she continued. “Hamas committed rape and gang rape at the Nova music festival, and women’s bodies were found naked from the waist down, hands tied behind their back and shot in the head.”
After the initial propaganda campaign focused on mass rapes as a weapon of war this is a very important distinction to make as he himself still associates it with such.
One cannot start pretending that we were just “worried about sexual violence”.
The Sharyl Sandberg “documentary” that Kamela Harris was attending very specifically states that rape happened.
Sexual violence is a very broad term. In the UN report it’s used for Hamas tying women’s hands behind their backs when taking them hostage. Not raping them.