Well I guess Israel and Iran are at war now.
kokopelli
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16 Jun 2025, 8:44 pm
That doesn't seem to back up your claim at all.
Quote:
The commission said it had "not been able to reach a definitive conclusion" as to whether rape, gang rape, sexual torture or genital mutilation occurred because it hadn't been able to talk to survivors or witnesses or access the places where the attacks took place. The report added that Israeli authorities had actively "obstruct[ed] the Commission's access to information related to sexual violence" by not responding to requests for information or calls for testimonies, or by banning medical doctors from talking to the commission because they cited distrust about the commission's intentions towards Israel.
Also, I'm not particularly impressed with the Michelson's at all. Based on conversations with them long before they created snopes.com they tended to refuse to consider that which they didn't want to believe. And some of the "facts" they had originally were easily proven to be wrong.
ASPartOfMe
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16 Jun 2025, 8:55 pm
Quote:
The Hamas baby beheading hoax refers to allegations, since refuted, that Hamas killed and beheaded dozens of babies and toddlers during the incursion it launched into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which constituted the first phase of the current Gaza war. The allegations were first made by soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and members of Israeli civilian rescue groups in interviews with local and international journalists. The hoax was initially endorsed by then-US President Joe Biden, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and some IDF spokespeople, and was then spread credulously by Western media outlets, gaining widespread coverage and, arguably, helping to shape the consensus in favor of war on the Gaza Strip. Similar reports accused Hamas of hanging or slitting the throats of babies and burning others alive, including by stuffing at least one young child into a hot oven.
Since then, only one victim of the October 7 violence in Israel has actually been identified as a baby – a 10-month-old girl who was shot by Hamas.[2] At times the Israeli government has discreetly admitted that the rumors about the beheaded children are unfounded. The hoax is argued by critics of the war on Gaza to be an example of atrocity propaganda and evidence that Israel is waging a "war on truth" during the Gaza war.
A related story, which also gained traction, was published on social media by the Israeli Foreign Ministry based on a report by a military officer who claimed he had found the bodies of eight babies who had been burned to death in a home on the Be'eri kibbutz.
On the same day, the reports were repeated as fact by senior Israeli and American officials. Israeli army spokespeople reiterated them to English- and French-language media outlets, although IDF sources said the story remained unconfirmed after being repeatedly contacted by the British channel Sky News. The IDF told Business Insider that the soldiers' testimonies would not be investigated and should be taken as sufficient evidence in themselves.
On next day, President Biden categorically stated in a press conference that he had seen "confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children,"and Prime Minister Netanyahu's spokesman repeated the same language. US congressmen from both the Democratic and Republican parties also spread the uncorroborated reports on social media The Israeli Prime Minister's Office's X account mentioned the killing of infants, posting graphic images as confirmation and claiming to have shown the material to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In turn, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared photos of burned babies' bodies, though it later deleted them.
In the first weeks of October 2023, the unfounded allegation was treated as established truth by several Western media outlets; the British tabloid Daily Mail described Hamas's actions as a "holocaust plain and simple,"while, along with several other British newspapers, The Times and Metro both accused Hamas of having beheaded or murdered several babies on their front pages.
Some backtracking and clarifications took place in the following days. On the 12th, the White House "clarified" that President Biden had not actually seen the images with his own eyes, but had merely passed on to the public what he had been told.[15] A memo signed by hundreds of US diplomats, which was leaked in November 2023, accused the president of "spreading misinformation" about the conflict. The Israeli PM's office also said it was not in a position to confirm the veracity of the story, which had been spread by its spokesperson the day before On October 12, CNN’s Sidner apologized for having taken the statement by the Israeli PM's spokesperson at face value.[ Israeli journalist Ishay Coen deleted a post publishing the testimony of a military officer who had claimed to have discovered the bodies of hanged babies. "Why would an army officer invent such a horrifying story? I was wrong," Coen said. And on November 30, i24news quietly inserted a correction to an article about the beheadings, despite previously complaining that "anti-Israeli voices" were trying to discredit its reporter.
Critics of the war on Gaza, however, say the retractions have not had the same reach as the original stories. CNN continued to push the false beheading story for 18 hours even after the White House clarification, only taking the extra step of attaching a Hamas denial.[14] Nor did the lack of evidence stop the allegation from continuing to circulate, or the addition of new details to the claims. In late October 2023, for example, an IDF officer alleged he found the remains of a decapitated baby.[18] Days before, that same officer, colonel Golan Vach, head of the military search and rescue service, told a group of French MPs visiting Kfar Aza that he had personally transported the bodies of newborn babies found on the kibbutz – "although there were none on the kibbutz," says Le Monde.
Investigations
In December 2023, Haaretz published the results of a comprehensive investigation into the violence of October 7. The conclusion was that while Hamas had committed real "atrocities" that day, some of the extreme acts attributed to the group never happened and were fueling denialism about October 7. Although Hamas had desecrated or dismembered the bodies of some Israelis, these belonged for the most part to fallen soldiers, the article said.
Netanyahu's claim to Biden that Hamas "took dozens of children, tied them up, burned them and executed them" also proved false, since, "There is no evidence that children from several families were murdered together".
Haaretz and other Israeli media outlets have established that one Israeli baby was indeed killed that day – Mila Cohen, who was shot in her mother's arms in the Be'eri kibbutz (and therefore not in Kfar Aza).[2][19] As such, the story of the baby being thrown into the hot oven — told by the United Hatzalah president Eli Beer at a November 2023 donor conference in the US — must also be untrue, concluded the paper.[2] Le Monde, for its part, counts two infants as victims of the violence that day: Cohen and a baby delivered post-mortem who perished two days after its mother's death.
Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit (I-Unit) also produced a forensic analysis of 7 October, released in March 2024. It confirmed that Hamas had committed abuses in its attack, but also found that "many" stories about its actions were false and that some fatalities on the Israeli side had in fact been the result of IDF action. Among the fake claims were "the mass killing and beheading of babies as well as allegations of widespread and systematic rape". The document refutes claims by the Israeli military that the burned bodies of eight babies were found in a house in kibbutz Be'eri. Not only were there no babies in that house, but "the 12 people inside were almost certainly killed by Israeli forces when they stormed the building", I-Unit concludes.
Aftermath
Despite the weakness of the claims, they continued to be repeated for some time by Israeli and American officials. Biden reiterated that Hamas had beheaded babies at a press conference in November 2023. In response, the Washington Post published a fact check concluding that the story still warranted caution. Biden again repeated this same falsehood on December 12, 2023 (after Haaretz published its investigation), again saying that he had seen photos showing the beheading of babies, being criticized this time by The Intercept. Israeli officials also produced a video purportedly documenting the actions of Palestinian militants on October 7, including "murder, beheadings, rapes and other atrocities against Jewish adults and children." The footage was shown around the world, but only to select audiences and is not available to the general public. British journalist Owen Jones, who attended a screening, reported that although it contained images of an Israeli soldier who was apparently beheaded, "there was no footage substantiating allegations of torture, sexual violence, and mass beheadings, including of babies or other children" (The Intercept's paraphrase).
Although the Israeli government press office confirmed to Le Monde prior to the release of its April 2024 investigation that the baby beheadings did not in fact take place either in Kfar Aza or in any other kibbutz, the French newspaper estimates that Israeli officers maintain an attitude of opportunistic ambiguity towards the rumour, with the intention to "muddy the waters", concluding that Israel has "more often tried to instrumentalize [the hoax] than deny it, fueling accusations of media manipulation."
The Israeli military took contradictory attitudes at different times, sometimes saying it had no confirmation of the killings or beheadings of babies, but then affirming them as fact at other times.[5] At one point, the IDF refused to confirm the beheadings simply because so doing would be "disrespectful for the dead."[11] Israeli embassies around the world helped spread the story, sometimes castigating skeptics as anti-Semitic.[5] When approached by Le Monde, Israel's embassy in France took down one post it made on X directly mentioning the hoax, but kept two other posts indirectly referencing it online.
The falsehoods, once exposed, were also exploited by pro-Palestinian influencers to falsely exonerate Hamas from blame for any violence against civilians on October 7. In Israel, however, belief in the hoax is still widespread, and denying that Hamas mass killed babies on October 7 is seen as tantamount to denying the massacre itself.[5]
The story of the beheaded babies has helped shape government attitudes to the pro-Palestinian movement in the West, with protest bans and other forms of attacks on civil liberties becoming a common feature of Western governments' response to popular anger over the war on Gaza.
Critics of Western media and foreign policy, such as Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi, have pointed to the political and media hysteria provoked by the hoax to underscore the hypocrisy and double standards adopted by the West in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, comparing it to the virtually nonexistent reactions to real images of Palestinian children killed or beheaded as a result of the war launched by Israel against the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attack.
For Declassified UK, the stories about decapitated babies ended up serving as justification for statements by Israeli officials containing genocidal intent, making them seem less extreme in contrast. The hoax "laid the basis for genocide; for politicians to look at pictures of Palestinian children, decapitated by US-manufactured missiles, and just shrug", commented Mahdawi.
Since then, only one victim of the October 7 violence in Israel has actually been identified as a baby – a 10-month-old girl who was shot by Hamas.[2] At times the Israeli government has discreetly admitted that the rumors about the beheaded children are unfounded. The hoax is argued by critics of the war on Gaza to be an example of atrocity propaganda and evidence that Israel is waging a "war on truth" during the Gaza war.
A related story, which also gained traction, was published on social media by the Israeli Foreign Ministry based on a report by a military officer who claimed he had found the bodies of eight babies who had been burned to death in a home on the Be'eri kibbutz.
On the same day, the reports were repeated as fact by senior Israeli and American officials. Israeli army spokespeople reiterated them to English- and French-language media outlets, although IDF sources said the story remained unconfirmed after being repeatedly contacted by the British channel Sky News. The IDF told Business Insider that the soldiers' testimonies would not be investigated and should be taken as sufficient evidence in themselves.
On next day, President Biden categorically stated in a press conference that he had seen "confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children,"and Prime Minister Netanyahu's spokesman repeated the same language. US congressmen from both the Democratic and Republican parties also spread the uncorroborated reports on social media The Israeli Prime Minister's Office's X account mentioned the killing of infants, posting graphic images as confirmation and claiming to have shown the material to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In turn, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared photos of burned babies' bodies, though it later deleted them.
In the first weeks of October 2023, the unfounded allegation was treated as established truth by several Western media outlets; the British tabloid Daily Mail described Hamas's actions as a "holocaust plain and simple,"while, along with several other British newspapers, The Times and Metro both accused Hamas of having beheaded or murdered several babies on their front pages.
Some backtracking and clarifications took place in the following days. On the 12th, the White House "clarified" that President Biden had not actually seen the images with his own eyes, but had merely passed on to the public what he had been told.[15] A memo signed by hundreds of US diplomats, which was leaked in November 2023, accused the president of "spreading misinformation" about the conflict. The Israeli PM's office also said it was not in a position to confirm the veracity of the story, which had been spread by its spokesperson the day before On October 12, CNN’s Sidner apologized for having taken the statement by the Israeli PM's spokesperson at face value.[ Israeli journalist Ishay Coen deleted a post publishing the testimony of a military officer who had claimed to have discovered the bodies of hanged babies. "Why would an army officer invent such a horrifying story? I was wrong," Coen said. And on November 30, i24news quietly inserted a correction to an article about the beheadings, despite previously complaining that "anti-Israeli voices" were trying to discredit its reporter.
Critics of the war on Gaza, however, say the retractions have not had the same reach as the original stories. CNN continued to push the false beheading story for 18 hours even after the White House clarification, only taking the extra step of attaching a Hamas denial.[14] Nor did the lack of evidence stop the allegation from continuing to circulate, or the addition of new details to the claims. In late October 2023, for example, an IDF officer alleged he found the remains of a decapitated baby.[18] Days before, that same officer, colonel Golan Vach, head of the military search and rescue service, told a group of French MPs visiting Kfar Aza that he had personally transported the bodies of newborn babies found on the kibbutz – "although there were none on the kibbutz," says Le Monde.
Investigations
In December 2023, Haaretz published the results of a comprehensive investigation into the violence of October 7. The conclusion was that while Hamas had committed real "atrocities" that day, some of the extreme acts attributed to the group never happened and were fueling denialism about October 7. Although Hamas had desecrated or dismembered the bodies of some Israelis, these belonged for the most part to fallen soldiers, the article said.
Netanyahu's claim to Biden that Hamas "took dozens of children, tied them up, burned them and executed them" also proved false, since, "There is no evidence that children from several families were murdered together".
Haaretz and other Israeli media outlets have established that one Israeli baby was indeed killed that day – Mila Cohen, who was shot in her mother's arms in the Be'eri kibbutz (and therefore not in Kfar Aza).[2][19] As such, the story of the baby being thrown into the hot oven — told by the United Hatzalah president Eli Beer at a November 2023 donor conference in the US — must also be untrue, concluded the paper.[2] Le Monde, for its part, counts two infants as victims of the violence that day: Cohen and a baby delivered post-mortem who perished two days after its mother's death.
Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit (I-Unit) also produced a forensic analysis of 7 October, released in March 2024. It confirmed that Hamas had committed abuses in its attack, but also found that "many" stories about its actions were false and that some fatalities on the Israeli side had in fact been the result of IDF action. Among the fake claims were "the mass killing and beheading of babies as well as allegations of widespread and systematic rape". The document refutes claims by the Israeli military that the burned bodies of eight babies were found in a house in kibbutz Be'eri. Not only were there no babies in that house, but "the 12 people inside were almost certainly killed by Israeli forces when they stormed the building", I-Unit concludes.
Aftermath
Despite the weakness of the claims, they continued to be repeated for some time by Israeli and American officials. Biden reiterated that Hamas had beheaded babies at a press conference in November 2023. In response, the Washington Post published a fact check concluding that the story still warranted caution. Biden again repeated this same falsehood on December 12, 2023 (after Haaretz published its investigation), again saying that he had seen photos showing the beheading of babies, being criticized this time by The Intercept. Israeli officials also produced a video purportedly documenting the actions of Palestinian militants on October 7, including "murder, beheadings, rapes and other atrocities against Jewish adults and children." The footage was shown around the world, but only to select audiences and is not available to the general public. British journalist Owen Jones, who attended a screening, reported that although it contained images of an Israeli soldier who was apparently beheaded, "there was no footage substantiating allegations of torture, sexual violence, and mass beheadings, including of babies or other children" (The Intercept's paraphrase).
Although the Israeli government press office confirmed to Le Monde prior to the release of its April 2024 investigation that the baby beheadings did not in fact take place either in Kfar Aza or in any other kibbutz, the French newspaper estimates that Israeli officers maintain an attitude of opportunistic ambiguity towards the rumour, with the intention to "muddy the waters", concluding that Israel has "more often tried to instrumentalize [the hoax] than deny it, fueling accusations of media manipulation."
The Israeli military took contradictory attitudes at different times, sometimes saying it had no confirmation of the killings or beheadings of babies, but then affirming them as fact at other times.[5] At one point, the IDF refused to confirm the beheadings simply because so doing would be "disrespectful for the dead."[11] Israeli embassies around the world helped spread the story, sometimes castigating skeptics as anti-Semitic.[5] When approached by Le Monde, Israel's embassy in France took down one post it made on X directly mentioning the hoax, but kept two other posts indirectly referencing it online.
The falsehoods, once exposed, were also exploited by pro-Palestinian influencers to falsely exonerate Hamas from blame for any violence against civilians on October 7. In Israel, however, belief in the hoax is still widespread, and denying that Hamas mass killed babies on October 7 is seen as tantamount to denying the massacre itself.[5]
The story of the beheaded babies has helped shape government attitudes to the pro-Palestinian movement in the West, with protest bans and other forms of attacks on civil liberties becoming a common feature of Western governments' response to popular anger over the war on Gaza.
Critics of Western media and foreign policy, such as Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi, have pointed to the political and media hysteria provoked by the hoax to underscore the hypocrisy and double standards adopted by the West in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, comparing it to the virtually nonexistent reactions to real images of Palestinian children killed or beheaded as a result of the war launched by Israel against the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attack.
For Declassified UK, the stories about decapitated babies ended up serving as justification for statements by Israeli officials containing genocidal intent, making them seem less extreme in contrast. The hoax "laid the basis for genocide; for politicians to look at pictures of Palestinian children, decapitated by US-manufactured missiles, and just shrug", commented Mahdawi.
Sexual and gender-based violence in the October 7 attacks
Quote:
During the October 7 attacks, Israeli women, girls and men were reportedly subject to sexual violence, including rape and sexual assault by Hamas or other Gazan militants. The extent of sexual violence perpetrated by militants, and whether it was planned and weaponised by the attackers, has been the subject of intense debate and controversy. Initially said to be "dozens" by Israeli authorities, they later clarified they could not provide a number.[6] The militants involved in the attack are accused of having committed acts of gender-based violence, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Hamas has denied that its fighters committed any sexual assaults, and has called for an impartial international investigation into the accusations.
In January 2024, it was reported that several victims of sexual violence from October 7 and captivity in Gaza had come forward. A number of initial testimonies of sexual violence were later discredited,[while Israel has accused international human rights groups of downplaying assault reports. As of January 2025, the former head of the security cases division in Israel's Southern District prosecutor's office said that no case was being filed due to a lack of evidence and complainants, which she said could be due to victims being dead or unwilling to come forward.
The UN's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten reported in March 2024, with the "full cooperation" of the Israeli government,] that there was "clear and convincing information" that Israeli hostages in Gaza had experienced sexual violence,[and that there was "reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks". The report was not a full investigation, but designed to "collect and verify allegations", and the team stated that their conclusions fell below the legal threshold of being 'beyond a reasonable doubt'. The UN Commission of Inquiry (CoI) subsequently published a legally mandated report in June 2024 that stated there was "a pattern indicative of sexual violence by Palestinian forces during the attack", but that it was unable to independently verify allegations of rape due to Israel's obstruction of its investigation. It also found some of the allegations to be false and "no credible evidence" that Palestinian militants received orders to commit sexual violence.[
On 12 April 2024, the European Union sanctioned military and special forces wings of Hamas and the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad due to their responsibility for the alleged sexual violence on 7 October.] The EU said the two groups' fighters “committed widespread sexual and gender-based violence in a systematic manner, using it as a weapon of war.”On 23 April 2024 the annual UN Secretary-General's report included Patten's findings, but excluded Hamas from the "black list" of state and non-state parties guilty of sexual violence in 2023 due to the lack of what it deemed to be credible evidence, and called on the Israeli government to allow access to "relevant UN bodies to carry out a fully-fledged investigation into all alleged violations."
Evidence
The attacks by Hamas on Israeli communities, in which 1,139 people were killed and 240 hostages were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, reportedly involved widespread sexual violence. In a review of evidence mainly provided by the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli officials, NBC News stated that the evidence "suggests that dozens of Israeli women were raped or sexually abused or mutilated". Hamas fighters infiltrated Israeli towns, where witnesses said they tortured, raped and sexually assaulted many women and girls of all ages, and some men.
Ina Kubbe, a scholar specializing in gender and conflict at Tel Aviv University, said that evidence aligns with sexual violence. However, she emphasized the necessity of a forensic investigation for an official determination of rape.
Limited forensic work
Members of the UN, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, and the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel have all noted the lack of forensic investigation that was done on the deceased at the attack locations. Due to the large numbers of deceased individuals Israel was attempting to fully identify all of the victims at least a month after the 7 October attacks, causing overtaxed morgues to not collect physical evidence or process rape kits from any bodies. Morgue officials in Israel reportedly cannot designate individual cases of rape or sexual violence, due to a lack of physical proof that is necessary in a court of law.[] The UN, which found "clear and convincing information" of sexual violence during the Hamas attacks, reports that the limited forensic evidence is due to both the large number of casualties and the "dispersed crime scenes in a context of persistent hostilities". A government relations officer at the Israel Women's Network said that, most of the raped had been killed, and their bodies were burned or buried along with any forensic evidence. Israeli media acknowledged the scenes of the attacks had not been properly photographed, preserved or forensically examined.
In January 2024, it was reported that several victims of sexual violence from October 7 and captivity in Gaza had come forward. A number of initial testimonies of sexual violence were later discredited,[while Israel has accused international human rights groups of downplaying assault reports. As of January 2025, the former head of the security cases division in Israel's Southern District prosecutor's office said that no case was being filed due to a lack of evidence and complainants, which she said could be due to victims being dead or unwilling to come forward.
The UN's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten reported in March 2024, with the "full cooperation" of the Israeli government,] that there was "clear and convincing information" that Israeli hostages in Gaza had experienced sexual violence,[and that there was "reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks". The report was not a full investigation, but designed to "collect and verify allegations", and the team stated that their conclusions fell below the legal threshold of being 'beyond a reasonable doubt'. The UN Commission of Inquiry (CoI) subsequently published a legally mandated report in June 2024 that stated there was "a pattern indicative of sexual violence by Palestinian forces during the attack", but that it was unable to independently verify allegations of rape due to Israel's obstruction of its investigation. It also found some of the allegations to be false and "no credible evidence" that Palestinian militants received orders to commit sexual violence.[
On 12 April 2024, the European Union sanctioned military and special forces wings of Hamas and the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad due to their responsibility for the alleged sexual violence on 7 October.] The EU said the two groups' fighters “committed widespread sexual and gender-based violence in a systematic manner, using it as a weapon of war.”On 23 April 2024 the annual UN Secretary-General's report included Patten's findings, but excluded Hamas from the "black list" of state and non-state parties guilty of sexual violence in 2023 due to the lack of what it deemed to be credible evidence, and called on the Israeli government to allow access to "relevant UN bodies to carry out a fully-fledged investigation into all alleged violations."
Evidence
The attacks by Hamas on Israeli communities, in which 1,139 people were killed and 240 hostages were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, reportedly involved widespread sexual violence. In a review of evidence mainly provided by the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli officials, NBC News stated that the evidence "suggests that dozens of Israeli women were raped or sexually abused or mutilated". Hamas fighters infiltrated Israeli towns, where witnesses said they tortured, raped and sexually assaulted many women and girls of all ages, and some men.
Ina Kubbe, a scholar specializing in gender and conflict at Tel Aviv University, said that evidence aligns with sexual violence. However, she emphasized the necessity of a forensic investigation for an official determination of rape.
Limited forensic work
Members of the UN, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, and the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel have all noted the lack of forensic investigation that was done on the deceased at the attack locations. Due to the large numbers of deceased individuals Israel was attempting to fully identify all of the victims at least a month after the 7 October attacks, causing overtaxed morgues to not collect physical evidence or process rape kits from any bodies. Morgue officials in Israel reportedly cannot designate individual cases of rape or sexual violence, due to a lack of physical proof that is necessary in a court of law.[] The UN, which found "clear and convincing information" of sexual violence during the Hamas attacks, reports that the limited forensic evidence is due to both the large number of casualties and the "dispersed crime scenes in a context of persistent hostilities". A government relations officer at the Israel Women's Network said that, most of the raped had been killed, and their bodies were burned or buried along with any forensic evidence. Israeli media acknowledged the scenes of the attacks had not been properly photographed, preserved or forensically examined.
Sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians during the Gaza war
Quote:
During the ongoing Gaza war, Israeli male and female soldiers, guards, medical staff have reportedly committed wartime sexual violence against Palestinian women, children and men including rape, gang-rape, sexualized torture and genital mutilation. In February 2024, UN experts cited at least two cases of Palestinian women being raped by male Israeli soldiers.[9] Palestinian boys and men have also been raped and subjected to torture, and in some cases, the impact of rape and torture has led to death of the victim.
In its June 2024 investigative report, the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (CoI) concluded: "The frequency, prevalence and severity of sexual and gender-based crimes perpetrated against Palestinians since 7 October across the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) indicate that specific forms of Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) are part of Israeli Security Forces (ISF) operating procedures.
In August 2024, Israeli human rights organization, B'Tselem, released a report on systematic Israeli abuse, torture, sexual violence and rape of Palestinian detainees, calling the Israeli prison system a "network of torture camps".The report includes extensive testimonies from Palestinians. The Guardian also interviewed Palestinian detainees, and reported they "back up [the] report by rights group B'Tselem, which says jails should now be labelled 'torture camps'.
In March 2025, the UN Human Rights Commission published a report on sexual and gender-based abuses perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian people, which concluded that sexual abuse of Palestinians is "committed either under explicit orders or with implicit encouragement by Israel's top civilian and military leadership." Acts of sexual violence such as compulsory nudity, rape threats and sexual assault "comprise part of the Israeli Security Forces' standard operating procedures toward Palestinians", says the report, with Commission member Chris Sidoti adding that, "Sexual violence is now so widespread that it can only be considered systematic. It's got beyond the level of random acts by rogue individuals.
In addition to concluding that Israel uses sexual violence to "dominate and destroy the Palestinian people", the report also lists several measures taken by Israel during the Gaza War, such as the bombing of Gaza's reproductive clinics and restrictions on the arrival of medical supplies, as genocidal acts aimed at destroying the reproductive rights of Palestinian women and preventing the birth of Palestinian babies.
Sexual abuse prior to 7 October
Claims of torture, ill-treatment, and sexual violence against detained Palestinians by Israel, have been made before the 7 October attacks and invasion of Gaza, with documentation recorded by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI and Amnesty International There have been extensive reports of sexual violence against both male and female detainees, including imprisoned Lebanese Amal leader Mustafa Dirani who sued Israel. A former official of the US State Department stated that his office had verified rape claims made by a Palestinian child. In a 2012 article entitled "The Blot of a Light Cloud: Israeli Soldiers, Army, and Society in the Intifada", Israeli academics (and former IDF soldiers) Nuphar Ishay-Krien and Yoel Elizur quoted another, anonymous soldier as saying that "I have no problem with women. One threw a slipper at me, so I gave her a kick here (pointing to the groin), broke all this here. She can't have children today." In a 2024 Haaretz article, Yoel Elizur goes on to add that "These soldiers were remorseless and did not report moral injury. Some of them were convicted by military courts. They felt bitter and betrayed."
The UN's Commission of Inquiry concludes in its June 2024 report that Israeli sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians precedes October 7 and arises out of the context of the occupation: "SGBV constitutes a major element in the ill-treatment of Palestinians, intended to humiliate the community at large. This violence is intrinsically linked to the wider context of inequality and prolonged occupation, which have provided the conditions and the rationale for gender-based crimes, to further accentuate the subordination of the occupied people. The Commission notes that these crimes must be addressed by tackling their root."
Rape and sexual assault of women and girls
On 19 February 2024, a group of United Nations special rapporteurs released a report stating "rights experts call for probe into violations against Palestinian women and girls." According to the report, there is evidence that during the Gaza war, Palestinian women and girls were subjected to wartime sexual violence.[9] According to these reports, Palestinian women and girls were also subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment by the IDF, such as they were denied menstruation pads, food and medicine, and were severely beaten, raped, assaulted, threatened with rape and sexual violence, and subjected to multiple forms of sexual assaults. Palestinian women and girls were also stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. OHCHR denounced that Israeli troops had photographed female detainees in “degrading circumstances” and that the photos had been uploaded online.
The UN report states, "Palestinian women and girls in detention have also been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped". One of the special rapporteurs; Reem Alsalem, cautioned that the reservation in reporting sexual violence was common due to reprisal concerns. Alsalem stated that since the 7 October attacks, women and girls in Israeli detention had faced an increasingly permissive attitude by Israeli officials towards sexual assault.[9] According to Middle East Eye, the phrase "at least" highlighted the fact that many occurrences remain unrecorded, as victims dread the stigma and repercussions associated with speaking out about sexual abuse in "a patriarchal society reluctant to address such atrocities".
The special rapporteurs have also raised concerns over a number of Palestinian women and children going missing, with reports of children being separated from their parents. In one instance a female infant was reportedly forcibly moved to Israel by the IDF.[In response to the report, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of State said, "Civilians and detainees must be treated humanely, and in accordance with international humanitarian law."[35] Physicians for Human Rights-Israel also described the sexual humiliation of detainees, including sexual insults and urination on prisoners.[36]
The Associated Press in March 2024 reported on Palestinian women giving testimony about having been abused during their detention by Israel, one woman said that Israeli soldiers conducted strip searches, and during the detention, if "we raised our heads or uttered any words, they beat us on the head [...] Loud music, shouting and intimidation — they wanted to humiliate us. We were handcuffed, blindfolded, and our feet were tied in chains"; another woman alleged that an Israeli soldier smashed her face into a wall when she would not kiss the flag of Israel.
A detailed and legally mandated June 2024 investigative report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory stated both Israel and Hamas had committed sexual violence and torture, along with intentional attacks on civilians Regarding Israeli actions against Palestinians, the report concludes that sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is deployed by Israeli forces and civilians against Palestinian women and men, throughout the occupied Palestinian territories.report concludes that: "The frequency, prevalence and severity of sexual and gender-based crimes perpetrated against Palestinians since 7 October across the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) indicate that specific forms of Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) are part of Israeli Security Forces (ISF) operating procedures."
The Commission's report was completed through the use of interviewing victims and witnesses along with a variety of other means, and Israel had previously announced its refusal to cooperate. The report indicates that sexual violence was used by the IDF to push the idea of "the subordination of an occupied people" in both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.[39]
In December 2024, dozens of Palestinian women and girls reported that sexual abuse were committed against them by Israeli forces during the storming of the Kamal Adwan hospital. They described being forced to undress, strip-searched and sexually harassed. Those who attempted to resist were "brutally beaten". One witness stated "They told us they would film us to show [the world] that Hamas was using us as human shields. When we arrived, they dragged us by our hair across the schoolyard, forced us into toilets, and ordered us to undress".
In March 2025, a report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, submitted to the Human Rights Council, detailed the systematic use of sexual and gender-based violence by Israeli Security Forces since October 2023. The report documented multiple instances of Israeli soldiers attempting to humiliate Palestinian women by wearing or posing with their underwear and sharing the images online, while referring to them as "prostitutes" and "sluts." The Commission also detailed instances of sexual violence directed against Palestinian girls. Female prisoners were forced to pose in degrading circumstances, including in their underwear and in front of an Israeli flag, with the photos also circulated online. They were subjected to sexual assault, harassment, forced nudity, and threats of rape.
In its June 2024 investigative report, the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (CoI) concluded: "The frequency, prevalence and severity of sexual and gender-based crimes perpetrated against Palestinians since 7 October across the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) indicate that specific forms of Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) are part of Israeli Security Forces (ISF) operating procedures.
In August 2024, Israeli human rights organization, B'Tselem, released a report on systematic Israeli abuse, torture, sexual violence and rape of Palestinian detainees, calling the Israeli prison system a "network of torture camps".The report includes extensive testimonies from Palestinians. The Guardian also interviewed Palestinian detainees, and reported they "back up [the] report by rights group B'Tselem, which says jails should now be labelled 'torture camps'.
In March 2025, the UN Human Rights Commission published a report on sexual and gender-based abuses perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian people, which concluded that sexual abuse of Palestinians is "committed either under explicit orders or with implicit encouragement by Israel's top civilian and military leadership." Acts of sexual violence such as compulsory nudity, rape threats and sexual assault "comprise part of the Israeli Security Forces' standard operating procedures toward Palestinians", says the report, with Commission member Chris Sidoti adding that, "Sexual violence is now so widespread that it can only be considered systematic. It's got beyond the level of random acts by rogue individuals.
In addition to concluding that Israel uses sexual violence to "dominate and destroy the Palestinian people", the report also lists several measures taken by Israel during the Gaza War, such as the bombing of Gaza's reproductive clinics and restrictions on the arrival of medical supplies, as genocidal acts aimed at destroying the reproductive rights of Palestinian women and preventing the birth of Palestinian babies.
Sexual abuse prior to 7 October
Claims of torture, ill-treatment, and sexual violence against detained Palestinians by Israel, have been made before the 7 October attacks and invasion of Gaza, with documentation recorded by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI and Amnesty International There have been extensive reports of sexual violence against both male and female detainees, including imprisoned Lebanese Amal leader Mustafa Dirani who sued Israel. A former official of the US State Department stated that his office had verified rape claims made by a Palestinian child. In a 2012 article entitled "The Blot of a Light Cloud: Israeli Soldiers, Army, and Society in the Intifada", Israeli academics (and former IDF soldiers) Nuphar Ishay-Krien and Yoel Elizur quoted another, anonymous soldier as saying that "I have no problem with women. One threw a slipper at me, so I gave her a kick here (pointing to the groin), broke all this here. She can't have children today." In a 2024 Haaretz article, Yoel Elizur goes on to add that "These soldiers were remorseless and did not report moral injury. Some of them were convicted by military courts. They felt bitter and betrayed."
The UN's Commission of Inquiry concludes in its June 2024 report that Israeli sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians precedes October 7 and arises out of the context of the occupation: "SGBV constitutes a major element in the ill-treatment of Palestinians, intended to humiliate the community at large. This violence is intrinsically linked to the wider context of inequality and prolonged occupation, which have provided the conditions and the rationale for gender-based crimes, to further accentuate the subordination of the occupied people. The Commission notes that these crimes must be addressed by tackling their root."
Rape and sexual assault of women and girls
On 19 February 2024, a group of United Nations special rapporteurs released a report stating "rights experts call for probe into violations against Palestinian women and girls." According to the report, there is evidence that during the Gaza war, Palestinian women and girls were subjected to wartime sexual violence.[9] According to these reports, Palestinian women and girls were also subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment by the IDF, such as they were denied menstruation pads, food and medicine, and were severely beaten, raped, assaulted, threatened with rape and sexual violence, and subjected to multiple forms of sexual assaults. Palestinian women and girls were also stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. OHCHR denounced that Israeli troops had photographed female detainees in “degrading circumstances” and that the photos had been uploaded online.
The UN report states, "Palestinian women and girls in detention have also been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped". One of the special rapporteurs; Reem Alsalem, cautioned that the reservation in reporting sexual violence was common due to reprisal concerns. Alsalem stated that since the 7 October attacks, women and girls in Israeli detention had faced an increasingly permissive attitude by Israeli officials towards sexual assault.[9] According to Middle East Eye, the phrase "at least" highlighted the fact that many occurrences remain unrecorded, as victims dread the stigma and repercussions associated with speaking out about sexual abuse in "a patriarchal society reluctant to address such atrocities".
The special rapporteurs have also raised concerns over a number of Palestinian women and children going missing, with reports of children being separated from their parents. In one instance a female infant was reportedly forcibly moved to Israel by the IDF.[In response to the report, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of State said, "Civilians and detainees must be treated humanely, and in accordance with international humanitarian law."[35] Physicians for Human Rights-Israel also described the sexual humiliation of detainees, including sexual insults and urination on prisoners.[36]
The Associated Press in March 2024 reported on Palestinian women giving testimony about having been abused during their detention by Israel, one woman said that Israeli soldiers conducted strip searches, and during the detention, if "we raised our heads or uttered any words, they beat us on the head [...] Loud music, shouting and intimidation — they wanted to humiliate us. We were handcuffed, blindfolded, and our feet were tied in chains"; another woman alleged that an Israeli soldier smashed her face into a wall when she would not kiss the flag of Israel.
A detailed and legally mandated June 2024 investigative report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory stated both Israel and Hamas had committed sexual violence and torture, along with intentional attacks on civilians Regarding Israeli actions against Palestinians, the report concludes that sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is deployed by Israeli forces and civilians against Palestinian women and men, throughout the occupied Palestinian territories.report concludes that: "The frequency, prevalence and severity of sexual and gender-based crimes perpetrated against Palestinians since 7 October across the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) indicate that specific forms of Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) are part of Israeli Security Forces (ISF) operating procedures."
The Commission's report was completed through the use of interviewing victims and witnesses along with a variety of other means, and Israel had previously announced its refusal to cooperate. The report indicates that sexual violence was used by the IDF to push the idea of "the subordination of an occupied people" in both Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.[39]
In December 2024, dozens of Palestinian women and girls reported that sexual abuse were committed against them by Israeli forces during the storming of the Kamal Adwan hospital. They described being forced to undress, strip-searched and sexually harassed. Those who attempted to resist were "brutally beaten". One witness stated "They told us they would film us to show [the world] that Hamas was using us as human shields. When we arrived, they dragged us by our hair across the schoolyard, forced us into toilets, and ordered us to undress".
In March 2025, a report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, submitted to the Human Rights Council, detailed the systematic use of sexual and gender-based violence by Israeli Security Forces since October 2023. The report documented multiple instances of Israeli soldiers attempting to humiliate Palestinian women by wearing or posing with their underwear and sharing the images online, while referring to them as "prostitutes" and "sluts." The Commission also detailed instances of sexual violence directed against Palestinian girls. Female prisoners were forced to pose in degrading circumstances, including in their underwear and in front of an Israeli flag, with the photos also circulated online. They were subjected to sexual assault, harassment, forced nudity, and threats of rape.
What was not mentioned was that Jewish law proscribes that bodies be buried as soon as possible, further degrading the accuracy of Israeli forensics.
Opinion=mine:
If this war is like most wars, sexual violence from the opportunity and weaponized sexual violence is rampant. Which side is worse, and on which side is sexual violence more systematic I will leave to future historians.
_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 16 Jun 2025, 9:43 pm, edited 4 times in total.
16 Jun 2025, 9:00 pm
kokopelli wrote:
That doesn't seem to back up your claim at all.
Also, I'm not particularly impressed with the Michelson's at all. Based on conversations with them long before they created snopes.com they tended to refuse to consider that which they didn't want to believe. And some of the "facts" they had originally were easily proven to be wrong.
Quote:
The commission said it had "not been able to reach a definitive conclusion" as to whether rape, gang rape, sexual torture or genital mutilation occurred because it hadn't been able to talk to survivors or witnesses or access the places where the attacks took place. The report added that Israeli authorities had actively "obstruct[ed] the Commission's access to information related to sexual violence" by not responding to requests for information or calls for testimonies, or by banning medical doctors from talking to the commission because they cited distrust about the commission's intentions towards Israel.
Also, I'm not particularly impressed with the Michelson's at all. Based on conversations with them long before they created snopes.com they tended to refuse to consider that which they didn't want to believe. And some of the "facts" they had originally were easily proven to be wrong.
How doesn't it back up my claim? Article says that a UN commission failed to find evidence of mass babyrape. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. They failed to dig up what could even loosely be described as ordinary evidence, let alone extraordinary. 10/7 rapes didn't happen, it's a racist myth, simple as.
16 Jun 2025, 9:05 pm
ASPartOfMe wrote:
Hamas baby beheading hoax
Quote:
The Hamas baby beheading hoax refers to allegations, since refuted, that Hamas killed and beheaded dozens of babies and toddlers during the incursion it launched into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which constituted the first phase of the current Gaza war. The allegations were first made by soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and members of Israeli civilian rescue groups in interviews with local and international journalists. The hoax was initially endorsed by then-US President Joe Biden, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and some IDF spokespeople, and was then spread credulously by Western media outlets, gaining widespread coverage and, arguably, helping to shape the consensus in favor of war on the Gaza Strip. Similar reports accused Hamas of hanging or slitting the throats of babies and burning others alive, including by stuffing at least one young child into a hot oven.
Since then, only one victim of the October 7 violence in Israel has actually been identified as a baby – a 10-month-old girl who was shot by Hamas.[2] At times the Israeli government has discreetly admitted that the rumors about the beheaded children are unfounded. The hoax is argued by critics of the war on Gaza to be an example of atrocity propaganda and evidence that Israel is waging a "war on truth" during the Gaza war.
A related story, which also gained traction, was published on social media by the Israeli Foreign Ministry based on a report by a military officer who claimed he had found the bodies of eight babies who had been burned to death in a home on the Be'eri kibbutz.
On the same day, the reports were repeated as fact by senior Israeli and American officials. Israeli army spokespeople reiterated them to English- and French-language media outlets, although IDF sources said the story remained unconfirmed after being repeatedly contacted by the British channel Sky News. The IDF told Business Insider that the soldiers' testimonies would not be investigated and should be taken as sufficient evidence in themselves.
On next day, President Biden categorically stated in a press conference that he had seen "confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children,"and Prime Minister Netanyahu's spokesman repeated the same language. US congressmen from both the Democratic and Republican parties also spread the uncorroborated reports on social media The Israeli Prime Minister's Office's X account mentioned the killing of infants, posting graphic images as confirmation and claiming to have shown the material to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In turn, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared photos of burned babies' bodies, though it later deleted them.
In the first weeks of October 2023, the unfounded allegation was treated as established truth by several Western media outlets; the British tabloid Daily Mail described Hamas's actions as a "holocaust plain and simple,"while, along with several other British newspapers, The Times and Metro both accused Hamas of having beheaded or murdered several babies on their front pages.
Some backtracking and clarifications took place in the following days. On the 12th, the White House "clarified" that President Biden had not actually seen the images with his own eyes, but had merely passed on to the public what he had been told.[15] A memo signed by hundreds of US diplomats, which was leaked in November 2023, accused the president of "spreading misinformation" about the conflict.[16] The Israeli PM's office also said it was not in a position to confirm the veracity of the story, which had been spread by its spokesperson the day before On October 12, CNN’s Sidner apologized for having taken the statement by the Israeli PM's spokesperson at face value.[ Israeli journalist Ishay Coen deleted a post publishing the testimony of a military officer who had claimed to have discovered the bodies of hanged babies. "Why would an army officer invent such a horrifying story? I was wrong," Coen said. And on November 30, i24news quietly inserted a correction to an article about the beheadings, despite previously complaining that "anti-Israeli voices" were trying to discredit its reporter.
Critics of the war on Gaza, however, say the retractions have not had the same reach as the original stories. CNN continued to push the false beheading story for 18 hours even after the White House clarification, only taking the extra step of attaching a Hamas denial.[14] Nor did the lack of evidence stop the allegation from continuing to circulate, or the addition of new details to the claims. In late October 2023, for example, an IDF officer alleged he found the remains of a decapitated baby.[18] Days before, that same officer, colonel Golan Vach, head of the military search and rescue service, told a group of French MPs visiting Kfar Aza that he had personally transported the bodies of newborn babies found on the kibbutz – "although there were none on the kibbutz," says Le Monde.
Investigations
In December 2023, Haaretz published the results of a comprehensive investigation into the violence of October 7. The conclusion was that while Hamas had committed real "atrocities" that day, some of the extreme acts attributed to the group never happened and were fueling denialism about October 7. Although Hamas had desecrated or dismembered the bodies of some Israelis, these belonged for the most part to fallen soldiers, the article said.
Netanyahu's claim to Biden that Hamas "took dozens of children, tied them up, burned them and executed them" also proved false, since, "There is no evidence that children from several families were murdered together".
Haaretz and other Israeli media outlets have established that one Israeli baby was indeed killed that day – Mila Cohen, who was shot in her mother's arms in the Be'eri kibbutz (and therefore not in Kfar Aza).[2][19] As such, the story of the baby being thrown into the hot oven — told by the United Hatzalah president Eli Beer at a November 2023 donor conference in the US — must also be untrue, concluded the paper.[2] Le Monde, for its part, counts two infants as victims of the violence that day: Cohen and a baby delivered post-mortem who perished two days after its mother's death.
Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit (I-Unit) also produced a forensic analysis of 7 October, released in March 2024. It confirmed that Hamas had committed abuses in its attack, but also found that "many" stories about its actions were false and that some fatalities on the Israeli side had in fact been the result of IDF action. Among the fake claims were "the mass killing and beheading of babies as well as allegations of widespread and systematic rape". The document refutes claims by the Israeli military that the burned bodies of eight babies were found in a house in kibbutz Be'eri. Not only were there no babies in that house, but "the 12 people inside were almost certainly killed by Israeli forces when they stormed the building", I-Unit concludes.
Aftermath
Despite the weakness of the claims, they continued to be repeated for some time by Israeli and American officials. Biden reiterated that Hamas had beheaded babies at a press conference in November 2023. In response, the Washington Post published a fact check concluding that the story still warranted caution. Biden again repeated this same falsehood on December 12, 2023 (after Haaretz published its investigation), again saying that he had seen photos showing the beheading of babies, being criticized this time by The Intercept. Israeli officials also produced a video purportedly documenting the actions of Palestinian militants on October 7, including "murder, beheadings, rapes and other atrocities against Jewish adults and children." The footage was shown around the world, but only to select audiences and is not available to the general public. British journalist Owen Jones, who attended a screening, reported that although it contained images of an Israeli soldier who was apparently beheaded, "there was no footage substantiating allegations of torture, sexual violence, and mass beheadings, including of babies or other children" (The Intercept's paraphrase).
Although the Israeli government press office confirmed to Le Monde prior to the release of its April 2024 investigation that the baby beheadings did not in fact take place either in Kfar Aza or in any other kibbutz, the French newspaper estimates that Israeli officers maintain an attitude of opportunistic ambiguity towards the rumour, with the intention to "muddy the waters", concluding that Israel has "more often tried to instrumentalize [the hoax] than deny it, fueling accusations of media manipulation."
The Israeli military took contradictory attitudes at different times, sometimes saying it had no confirmation of the killings or beheadings of babies, but then affirming them as fact at other times.[5] At one point, the IDF refused to confirm the beheadings simply because so doing would be "disrespectful for the dead."[11] Israeli embassies around the world helped spread the story, sometimes castigating skeptics as anti-Semitic.[5] When approached by Le Monde, Israel's embassy in France took down one post it made on X directly mentioning the hoax, but kept two other posts indirectly referencing it online.
The falsehoods, once exposed, were also exploited by pro-Palestinian influencers to falsely exonerate Hamas from blame for any violence against civilians on October 7. In Israel, however, belief in the hoax is still widespread, and denying that Hamas mass killed babies on October 7 is seen as tantamount to denying the massacre itself.[5]
The story of the beheaded babies has helped shape government attitudes to the pro-Palestinian movement in the West, with protest bans and other forms of attacks on civil liberties becoming a common feature of Western governments' response to popular anger over the war on Gaza.
Critics of Western media and foreign policy, such as Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi, have pointed to the political and media hysteria provoked by the hoax to underscore the hypocrisy and double standards adopted by the West in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, comparing it to the virtually nonexistent reactions to real images of Palestinian children killed or beheaded as a result of the war launched by Israel against the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attack.
For Declassified UK, the stories about decapitated babies ended up serving as justification for statements by Israeli officials containing genocidal intent, making them seem less extreme in contrast. The hoax "laid the basis for genocide; for politicians to look at pictures of Palestinian children, decapitated by US-manufactured missiles, and just shrug", commented Mahdawi.
Since then, only one victim of the October 7 violence in Israel has actually been identified as a baby – a 10-month-old girl who was shot by Hamas.[2] At times the Israeli government has discreetly admitted that the rumors about the beheaded children are unfounded. The hoax is argued by critics of the war on Gaza to be an example of atrocity propaganda and evidence that Israel is waging a "war on truth" during the Gaza war.
A related story, which also gained traction, was published on social media by the Israeli Foreign Ministry based on a report by a military officer who claimed he had found the bodies of eight babies who had been burned to death in a home on the Be'eri kibbutz.
On the same day, the reports were repeated as fact by senior Israeli and American officials. Israeli army spokespeople reiterated them to English- and French-language media outlets, although IDF sources said the story remained unconfirmed after being repeatedly contacted by the British channel Sky News. The IDF told Business Insider that the soldiers' testimonies would not be investigated and should be taken as sufficient evidence in themselves.
On next day, President Biden categorically stated in a press conference that he had seen "confirmed pictures of terrorists beheading children,"and Prime Minister Netanyahu's spokesman repeated the same language. US congressmen from both the Democratic and Republican parties also spread the uncorroborated reports on social media The Israeli Prime Minister's Office's X account mentioned the killing of infants, posting graphic images as confirmation and claiming to have shown the material to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In turn, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared photos of burned babies' bodies, though it later deleted them.
In the first weeks of October 2023, the unfounded allegation was treated as established truth by several Western media outlets; the British tabloid Daily Mail described Hamas's actions as a "holocaust plain and simple,"while, along with several other British newspapers, The Times and Metro both accused Hamas of having beheaded or murdered several babies on their front pages.
Some backtracking and clarifications took place in the following days. On the 12th, the White House "clarified" that President Biden had not actually seen the images with his own eyes, but had merely passed on to the public what he had been told.[15] A memo signed by hundreds of US diplomats, which was leaked in November 2023, accused the president of "spreading misinformation" about the conflict.[16] The Israeli PM's office also said it was not in a position to confirm the veracity of the story, which had been spread by its spokesperson the day before On October 12, CNN’s Sidner apologized for having taken the statement by the Israeli PM's spokesperson at face value.[ Israeli journalist Ishay Coen deleted a post publishing the testimony of a military officer who had claimed to have discovered the bodies of hanged babies. "Why would an army officer invent such a horrifying story? I was wrong," Coen said. And on November 30, i24news quietly inserted a correction to an article about the beheadings, despite previously complaining that "anti-Israeli voices" were trying to discredit its reporter.
Critics of the war on Gaza, however, say the retractions have not had the same reach as the original stories. CNN continued to push the false beheading story for 18 hours even after the White House clarification, only taking the extra step of attaching a Hamas denial.[14] Nor did the lack of evidence stop the allegation from continuing to circulate, or the addition of new details to the claims. In late October 2023, for example, an IDF officer alleged he found the remains of a decapitated baby.[18] Days before, that same officer, colonel Golan Vach, head of the military search and rescue service, told a group of French MPs visiting Kfar Aza that he had personally transported the bodies of newborn babies found on the kibbutz – "although there were none on the kibbutz," says Le Monde.
Investigations
In December 2023, Haaretz published the results of a comprehensive investigation into the violence of October 7. The conclusion was that while Hamas had committed real "atrocities" that day, some of the extreme acts attributed to the group never happened and were fueling denialism about October 7. Although Hamas had desecrated or dismembered the bodies of some Israelis, these belonged for the most part to fallen soldiers, the article said.
Netanyahu's claim to Biden that Hamas "took dozens of children, tied them up, burned them and executed them" also proved false, since, "There is no evidence that children from several families were murdered together".
Haaretz and other Israeli media outlets have established that one Israeli baby was indeed killed that day – Mila Cohen, who was shot in her mother's arms in the Be'eri kibbutz (and therefore not in Kfar Aza).[2][19] As such, the story of the baby being thrown into the hot oven — told by the United Hatzalah president Eli Beer at a November 2023 donor conference in the US — must also be untrue, concluded the paper.[2] Le Monde, for its part, counts two infants as victims of the violence that day: Cohen and a baby delivered post-mortem who perished two days after its mother's death.
Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit (I-Unit) also produced a forensic analysis of 7 October, released in March 2024. It confirmed that Hamas had committed abuses in its attack, but also found that "many" stories about its actions were false and that some fatalities on the Israeli side had in fact been the result of IDF action. Among the fake claims were "the mass killing and beheading of babies as well as allegations of widespread and systematic rape". The document refutes claims by the Israeli military that the burned bodies of eight babies were found in a house in kibbutz Be'eri. Not only were there no babies in that house, but "the 12 people inside were almost certainly killed by Israeli forces when they stormed the building", I-Unit concludes.
Aftermath
Despite the weakness of the claims, they continued to be repeated for some time by Israeli and American officials. Biden reiterated that Hamas had beheaded babies at a press conference in November 2023. In response, the Washington Post published a fact check concluding that the story still warranted caution. Biden again repeated this same falsehood on December 12, 2023 (after Haaretz published its investigation), again saying that he had seen photos showing the beheading of babies, being criticized this time by The Intercept. Israeli officials also produced a video purportedly documenting the actions of Palestinian militants on October 7, including "murder, beheadings, rapes and other atrocities against Jewish adults and children." The footage was shown around the world, but only to select audiences and is not available to the general public. British journalist Owen Jones, who attended a screening, reported that although it contained images of an Israeli soldier who was apparently beheaded, "there was no footage substantiating allegations of torture, sexual violence, and mass beheadings, including of babies or other children" (The Intercept's paraphrase).
Although the Israeli government press office confirmed to Le Monde prior to the release of its April 2024 investigation that the baby beheadings did not in fact take place either in Kfar Aza or in any other kibbutz, the French newspaper estimates that Israeli officers maintain an attitude of opportunistic ambiguity towards the rumour, with the intention to "muddy the waters", concluding that Israel has "more often tried to instrumentalize [the hoax] than deny it, fueling accusations of media manipulation."
The Israeli military took contradictory attitudes at different times, sometimes saying it had no confirmation of the killings or beheadings of babies, but then affirming them as fact at other times.[5] At one point, the IDF refused to confirm the beheadings simply because so doing would be "disrespectful for the dead."[11] Israeli embassies around the world helped spread the story, sometimes castigating skeptics as anti-Semitic.[5] When approached by Le Monde, Israel's embassy in France took down one post it made on X directly mentioning the hoax, but kept two other posts indirectly referencing it online.
The falsehoods, once exposed, were also exploited by pro-Palestinian influencers to falsely exonerate Hamas from blame for any violence against civilians on October 7. In Israel, however, belief in the hoax is still widespread, and denying that Hamas mass killed babies on October 7 is seen as tantamount to denying the massacre itself.[5]
The story of the beheaded babies has helped shape government attitudes to the pro-Palestinian movement in the West, with protest bans and other forms of attacks on civil liberties becoming a common feature of Western governments' response to popular anger over the war on Gaza.
Critics of Western media and foreign policy, such as Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi, have pointed to the political and media hysteria provoked by the hoax to underscore the hypocrisy and double standards adopted by the West in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, comparing it to the virtually nonexistent reactions to real images of Palestinian children killed or beheaded as a result of the war launched by Israel against the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attack.
For Declassified UK, the stories about decapitated babies ended up serving as justification for statements by Israeli officials containing genocidal intent, making them seem less extreme in contrast. The hoax "laid the basis for genocide; for politicians to look at pictures of Palestinian children, decapitated by US-manufactured missiles, and just shrug", commented Mahdawi.
Absolutely f**k Joe Biden for kick-starting this hoax in the US. Guy stood up in front of millions of people and said a bunch of BS knowing that it was a lie. It's such an insulting, offensive, unbelievable slander. And millions believed it.
Last edited by Cornflake on 17 Jun 2025, 8:20 am, edited 1 time in total.: Removed a generalized attack
kokopelli
Veteran
Joined: 27 Nov 2017
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,156
Location: amid the sunlight and the dust and the wind
16 Jun 2025, 9:50 pm
Barchan wrote:
kokopelli wrote:
That doesn't seem to back up your claim at all.
Also, I'm not particularly impressed with the Michelson's at all. Based on conversations with them long before they created snopes.com they tended to refuse to consider that which they didn't want to believe. And some of the "facts" they had originally were easily proven to be wrong.
Quote:
The commission said it had "not been able to reach a definitive conclusion" as to whether rape, gang rape, sexual torture or genital mutilation occurred because it hadn't been able to talk to survivors or witnesses or access the places where the attacks took place. The report added that Israeli authorities had actively "obstruct[ed] the Commission's access to information related to sexual violence" by not responding to requests for information or calls for testimonies, or by banning medical doctors from talking to the commission because they cited distrust about the commission's intentions towards Israel.
Also, I'm not particularly impressed with the Michelson's at all. Based on conversations with them long before they created snopes.com they tended to refuse to consider that which they didn't want to believe. And some of the "facts" they had originally were easily proven to be wrong.
How doesn't it back up my claim? Article says that a UN commission failed to find evidence of mass babyrape. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. They failed to dig up what could even loosely be described as ordinary evidence, let alone extraordinary. 10/7 rapes didn't happen, it's a racist myth, simple as.
Do you really have no reading comprehension?
16 Jun 2025, 10:07 pm
kokopelli wrote:
Do you really have no reading comprehension?
Yes, do you?
You copied and pasted a block of text saying that they failed to find conclusive evidence of mass babyrapes. That means, in simpler terms, they found no evidence of mass babyrape. So, no, mass babyrapes didn't happen. Not sure how you fell under the impression that that excerpt was helping your case
kokopelli
Veteran
Joined: 27 Nov 2017
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,156
Location: amid the sunlight and the dust and the wind
16 Jun 2025, 10:14 pm
Barchan wrote:
kokopelli wrote:
Do you really have no reading comprehension?
Yes, do you?
You copied and pasted a block of text saying that they failed to find conclusive evidence of mass babyrapes. That means, in simpler terms, they found no evidence of mass babyrape. So, no, mass babyrapes didn't happen. Not sure how you fell under the impression that that excerpt was helping your case
They were unable to reach any conclusions and went into the reasons why. That's not the same thing.
16 Jun 2025, 10:26 pm
kokopelli wrote:
Barchan wrote:
kokopelli wrote:
Do you really have no reading comprehension?
Yes, do you?
You copied and pasted a block of text saying that they failed to find conclusive evidence of mass babyrapes. That means, in simpler terms, they found no evidence of mass babyrape. So, no, mass babyrapes didn't happen. Not sure how you fell under the impression that that excerpt was helping your case
They were unable to reach any conclusions and went into the reasons why. That's not the same thing.
They were unable to reach any conclusions because there aren't any conclusions to reach because it didn't happen
Like think about it why would Israel obstruct an investigation into their own personal 9/11?
Like clearly Israel wants so badly for this to be their 9/11, if there was any actual evidence of mass rapes do you think they wouldn't make a massive spectacle of it? Attack that allegedly killed thousands, how is there basically zero footage of this? And how does that not make you go hmmm
kokopelli
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17 Jun 2025, 2:41 am
Wow...just Wow ....So hamas was never there to help Palestine with its very long term oppression of the Palestinian
people by Israel but ,it also appears that in older reports , from years ago hamas dealt directly with the US and others as a
originally a aide organization in the middleeast . But this cannot "be"for we have our Israeli dominanated media in the US
So now hamas became a terrorist org. But for some reason, they worked through Palestine. But not Lebanon? before or Syria before, Just Palestine needed to be levelled, because they have very valuable first rate seaside properties .
But lets not attack Lebanon till later? ( why ) ? Then Syria has some internal problems, So they attack there ? hamas was in there? Then Yemen has hamas , So bomb Yemen , but not the countries between the two countries ?
But Israel has been sabotaging Irans nuclear program for years ? before any of this .. Why? ,But they are all in the MiddleEast. Kinda like Some middle east Arab people are not Arabs? So, why promote the hate . resulting in death and
all the heinous crimes that appear to be going on . Why do the Americans still treat indigenous Indian tribes in their own country, And black people in their USA country so awefully . " well known, is "driving while black" is not a joke . It is a reality . The Israelis shot their own people,that were captured when they escaped from Palestine ? hamas?" With their hands raised up". Am thinking we have a case of Power crazed people in power. Whom do we point the fingers at?
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funeralxempire
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17 Jun 2025, 8:00 am
old_comedywriter wrote:
And the "foes" list is growing right here. Now we have Hamas attack deniers to add.
You're aware it doesn't do anything, right?
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If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. —Malcolm X
Real power is achieved when the ruling class controls the material essentials of life, granting and withholding them from the masses as if they were privileges.—George Orwell
17 Jun 2025, 9:36 am
| ! | Cornflake wrote: |
| While some anger is to be expected (and has been left in situ), it's getting a little over-heated here - that needs to stop or the thread will be locked. I'll also raise raise a point of order, which is that accusing someone of being a terrorist/Hamas supporter because the narrative or reporting of the Hamas attack is being questioned is not acceptable and amounts to a personal attack. By the same token, actually supporting Hamas or cheering their actions is also not acceptable. Discuss the activities and reporting of them without drawing false equivalences or attacking others. |
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17 Jun 2025, 10:33 am
The relevant thing to think about here is what can be done to keep the US out of this conflict. Or to convince the US to stop providing weapons to Israel. Israel does not have the ability to fight these fights without the US and Iran was able to break through and hit some buildings related to Israeli defense.
Netanyahu has been telling lies about Iran for decades at this point and while the government of Iran leaves a lot to be desired in terms of internal policy,they don't really represent the kind of threat that a lot of people think as much of their activities are defensive in nature.
In this particular place, the Iranians are pretty clearly the good guys, to the extent that anybody involved in this is. They tried to avoid escalation the previous time, and were punished for it. Now, they don't really have much of an option other than to dish out a lot more than they previously had been.
17 Jun 2025, 11:55 am
Agrees with the above post, but with the addition, that? do not quote me on this, because am based in a workd of the 20 th century in my own mind BUT , I do believe Tehran is a very civilized city . With school and colleges WOMEN could attend, face covers included most likely but Moslems are about there religion and Judiac peoples are about there own?
So often ,it actually at some point sounds like a religious War these days . Because , am pretty sure hamas is based in and about Moslem countries . How many countries around Israel are Moslem ? Its almost like the Crusaders have returned for a act II of what happened in medievel times ? . Civilized peeps normally try to live in Peace with their nextdoor neighbours .Or at least a hec of alot more respectful of their differences .And property generally.
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