‘I don’t know why countries, leaders, international organizations were so slow to focus on this, to bring it to people’s attention…I’m glad it is finally happening.’
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken criticized the delay in the United Nation’s response to reports of Hamas’ sexual violence on October 7th and said the atrocities were “beyond anything I’ve ever seen.”
He told Tapper, “The atrocities that we saw on Oct. 7 are almost beyond description or beyond our capacity to digest.”
When asked to account for the extreme delay the UN and other leaders took in investigating or even addressing the topic, Blinken replied, “(that is something) these organizations, these countries need to ask themselves.”
“I don’t know why countries, leaders, international organizations were so slow to focus on this, to bring it to people’s attention,” Blinken responded. “I’m glad it is finally happening.”
Physicians for Human Rights published reports last month saying that there were many instances of sexual violence against both women and men.
The group’s ethics and policy director, Hadas Ziv, said, “What we know for sure is that it was more than just one case and it was widespread, in that this happened in more than one location and more than a handful of times.”
An Israeli combat medic also reported to the Associated Press shortly after the beginning of the war that many of the bodies of both men and women showed unmistakable signs of sexual assault, including blood around the groin and limbs distorted in odd angles.
After 50 days of silence on the issue, the United Nations declared on December 1st that they were opening an investigation into Hamas sexual crimes on October 7th.
This announcement came only after extensive pressure from Israel and Jewish women’s groups.
Guterres’ statement was criticized strongly by Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, who questioned why proven cases sexual violation should still need to be “investigated.”
Erdan noted the hypocrisy: “Surprisingly when it comes to the claims of Hamas and the ‘Gaza Ministry of Health’ against Israel regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza, for him there is no doubt and no need for ‘investigations.’”
David Katz, who works at the Israel Police’s criminal investigation division, said the police have witness testimony, video evidence, and photographs of victims’ bodies attesting to sexual assault. Israeli officials, first responders, and morgue workers also substantiate the rapes by Hamas jihadists during the Oct 7 attack.