"The Story Is False": New York Times Debunks Its Own Story About October 7th Sexual Assault By Hamas (X image@shaig)
Though it could not be proved, the New York Times held tighter to their claim that Hamas used systematic sexual violence as a weapon on October 7th. Its celebrated story, ‘Screams Without Words’: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on October 7, has been debunked for its inability to provide credible proof on the allegations. Now The Times itself released an article that quoted an Israeli saying that the “story is false”.
One of the instances stated by the ‘investigative story’ by Israeli filmmaker Anat Schwartz was bodies of two “partially clothed teenage girls” who were alleged to be “raped and murdered in their bedroom”. Schwartz cited testimony of a paramedic from Israeli Air Force medical unit 669, known as “Witness G”.
After the story was debunked, New York Times finds itself to be in a tight spot, where its credibility is questioned. Now, the NYT reported about a new video that surfaced. It said the video, “undercuts the account of an Israeli military paramedic who said two teenagers killed in the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Oct. 7 were sexually assaulted”.
According to The Times, a video footage taken by an Israeli soldier, who was in Be’eri, of Kibbutz on October 7th. The video was viewed by leading community members in February and The Times this month. according to New York Times, the video showed “bodies of three female victims, fully clothed and with no apparent signs of sexual violence”.
Th residents of the region also said that there were no other home in Be’eri where two teenage girls were killed and concluded that the girls shown in the video had not been sexually assaulted.
Interestingly, when The Times tried to reach out to the medic, he declined to state whether he still stood by the account and said that he would like to put the attacks behind him.
NYT reported that Nili Bar Sinai, a member of a group from Kibbutz who looked into claims of sexual assault at the house said that the “story is false”.
However, the Israeli military still claims that the allegations of Hamas weaponizing sexual assault on October 7th was true. A military spokesperson said that the paramedic, who testified the rape of two teenage girls by Hamas to New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post and The Associated Press, “might have misremembered the place where he saw the teenage girls”, said New York Post.
Notably, the United Nations also released a report and said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that sexual violence including gang rape was committed in multiple locations. The report said it was “clear and convincing information” that some hostages being held in Gaza had also been subjected to sexual torture. However, once again, the said report alleged sexual violence committed by Hamas on October 7th, dilly dallies on “circumstantial evidence”, and could not provide any credible proof.
