VOA: ‘Widespread’ Sexual, Gender-Based Crimes Committed During Hamas Attack, Israeli Officials Say

Haaretz: Hamas’ campaign of rape against Israeli women is revealed, testimony after testimony https://t.co/NaZ1RHq3GD

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) December 2, 2023

COGwriter

Over 6,400 are now reportedly dead from the war that Hamas initiated:

Sheryl Sandberg takes a stand against rape in the Israel-Hamas war

December 6, 2023

Sandberg’s new call. On Monday afternoon, former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg joined a group of activists at the UN calling for a wider global response to sexual violence committed against Israeli women by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks.

Sandberg first spoke out on this issue via a CNN op-ed published in late November. The founder of LeanIn.org, Sandberg often weighs in on women’s workplace issues and sometimes on related matters of sexism and gender bias. But wading into the Israel-Hamas war, via this particular topic of sexual violence, is perhaps her boldest stance yet. “For over a decade, I’ve been urging women to lean in,” Sandberg said in her speech at the UN. “Now I call on everyone to speak out.” https://fortune.com/2023/12/06/sheryl-sandberg-rape-israel-hamas-war/

‘Widespread’ Sexual, Gender-Based Crimes Committed During Hamas Attack, Israeli Officials Say

December 5, 2023

JERUSALEM — A man hiding in a pit during the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on an outdoor music festival in Israel said he heard someone nearby screaming she was being raped. Elsewhere in the area, a combat paramedic saw the body of a young woman with her legs open, her pants pulled down, and what looked like semen on her lower back. An army reservist who was tasked with identifying those killed by the militants said some of the women were found wearing only bloodied underwear.

Such accounts given to The Associated Press, along with first assessments by an Israeli rights group, show that sexual assault was part of an atrocities-filled rampage by Hamas and other Gaza militants who killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took more than 240 hostages that day.

While investigators are still trying to determine the scope of the sexual assaults, Israel’s government is accusing the international community, particularly the United Nations, of ignoring the pain of Israeli victims.

“I say to the women’s rights organizations, to the human rights organizations, you’ve heard of the rape of Israeli women, horrible atrocities … where the hell are you?” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a news conference Tuesday, switching to English to emphasize the point.

U.S. President Joe Biden called the reports “appalling” and urged the world to condemn “horrific accounts of unimaginable cruelty.”

Two months after the Hamas attacks on the music festival, farming communities and army posts in southern Israel, police are still struggling to put together the pieces.

In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, priority was given to identifying bodies, not to preserving evidence. Police say they’re combing through 60,000 videos seized from the body cameras of Hamas attackers, from social media and from security cameras as well as 1,000 testimonies to bring the perpetrators to justice. It has been difficult finding rape survivors, with many victims killed by their attackers.

The group Physicians for Human Rights in Israel, which has a record of advocating for Palestinian civilians in Gaza suffering under Israel’s longtime blockade of the territory, published an initial assessment in November.

“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,” Hadas Ziv, policy and ethics director for the organization, said Tuesday. “What we don’t know and what the police are investigating is whether it was ordered to be done and whether it was systematic.”

Hamas has rejected allegations that its gunmen committed sexual assault.

Screaming for help

Ron Freger fled the music festival when Hamas attacked and said he heard a woman screaming for help. “I was lying in a pit (and) I heard (a girl) yelling: ‘They’re raping me, they’re raping me!'” he told the AP.

Several minutes later, he heard gunshots close by and she fell silent, he said.

“The feeling in that moment is one of complete powerlessness. I’m lying in this hole and I have no ability to do anything. I have no weapon, I have nothing, I’m surrounded by other people who are hiding with me and we’re completely powerless,” said the 23-year-old from the northern Israeli town of Netanya.

Last month, Israel’s police chief presented to the international news media videotaped testimony of a rape witness at the music festival. Her face blurred, she said she watched militants gang-rape a woman.

“I couldn’t understand what I saw,” she said.

A combat medic told the AP that he came across half a dozen bodies of women and men with possible signs of sexual assault when he reached one of the attacked communities.

At the Shura military base where victims are being identified, Shari Mendes, a member of the army reserve unit that deals with the identification and religious burial preparation of female soldiers, said some of the women’s bodies came in with little clothing, such as parts of their pajamas. Some only had bloodied underwear.

‘Widespread’ crimes

Based on open-source information and interviews, the Physicians for Human Rights in Israel report documents incidents at the music festival, homes around the Gaza Strip and an Israeli military base, all attacked by Hamas.

“It is becoming more apparent that the violence perpetrated against women, men and children also included widespread sexual and gender-based crimes,” it says.

Before this war, Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel’s destruction, wasn’t known to use rape as a weapon, said Colin P. Clarke, director of research at The Soufan Group, a global intelligence and security consulting firm. Its tactics included suicide bombings and shooting attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians. https://www.voanews.com/a/widespread-sexual-gender-based-crimes-committed-during-hamas-attack-israeli-officials-say/7386217.html

Rape has long been a terrifying aspect of war that brutal haters have used.

A group that is supposed to have religious morals like Hamas never should have planned or condoned its use.

As far as shifts in morality goes, the Apostle Paul wrote:

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:1-7)

Terrorists and actions of Hamas this Fall have been consistent with being “without self-control, brutal, despisers of good.” It is evil to harm people with rape and to violate God’s loving commandments.

Now, consider that Jesus taught:

9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9-10)

36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke 21:36)

Yes, pray for God’s kingdom to come. Support the work of making that happen!

Furthermore, to be counted worthy, you need to not just keep the commandments and believe in Jesus–but be part of the most faithful remnant of the true church (cf. Revelation 12:14-17).

We in the Continuing Church of God look forward to the return of Jesus, the establishment of the millennial Kingdom of God, and the end of atrocities like rape.

We pray for God’s kingdom to come and are working on assisting with the preparation for that.

Some items of related interest may include the following:

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. It is available in over 1000 languages at ccog.org. Here are links to four kingdom-related sermons: The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
The Ten Commandments Reflect Love, Breaking them is Evil Some feel that the ten commandments are a burden. Is that what Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and John taught? For a more detailed discussion of the first four commandments, please see the video The Ten Commandments: Loving God–and here is a link to a related article in Spanish: Los primeros cuatro mandamientos: Amar a Dios. For a more detailed discussion of the last six commandments, please see: The Ten Commandments: Loving Your Neighbor. Here is a link to a related article in Mandarin Chinese SAga‹ëT}f>y:r1ÿÝSÍ‹ëT}v„\1f/ª`vv„
Did The Early Church Teach Millenarianism? Was the millennium (sometimes called chiliasm) taught by early Christians? Who condemned it? Will Jesus literally reign for 1000 years on the earth? Is this time near? Three related sermons are available Let’s Talk About the Earthly Millennium, Millennial Utopia, and The Millennium.
Could God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2031 or 2025 or? There is also a video titled: When Does the 6000 Years End? 2031? 2035? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
Preparing for the ‘Short Work’ and The Famine of the Word What is the ‘short work’ of Romans 9:28? Who is preparing for it? Will Philadelphian Christians instruct many in the end times? Here is a link to a related video sermon titled: The Short Work. Here is a link to another: Preparing to Instruct Many.