'Where The Hell Are You': Netanyahu Asks Rights Orgs As Accounts Of Sexual Abuse By Hamas Emerge
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu came heavily on human rights and women's rights organisations asking them to speak up against the Hamas' sexual attack during the Oct 7 assault.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden on Tuesday slammed the human rights groups, women’s organisations and the United Nations for not speaking up against the rapes and other atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli women during its October 7 surprise attack on the Jewish nation.
"I heard heartbreaking stories of abuse...I heard, as you have heard, about sexual abuse and unprecedented cases of cruel rape," Netanyahu said at a press conference in Tel Aviv while sharing his experience of meeting released hostages, as quoted by Times of Israel.
"I say to the women’s rights organizations, to the human rights organizations, you’ve heard of the rape of Israeli women, horrible atrocities, sexual mutilation? Where the hell are you?" he further said, quoted Times of Israel.
The United Nations recently heard the accounts of sexual violence by Hamas militants during the October 7. According to a report in The Guardian, speakers at the UN meet attacked women’s rights activists and UN officials for not doing enough to condemn or probe these crimes. The meeting was organised in part by former Meta executive Sheryl Sandberg, the report added.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden denounced the alleged sexual violence and called on the world to condemn such conduct "without equivocation" and "without exception".
"Reports of women raped – repeatedly raped – and their bodies being mutilated while still alive – of women corpses being desecrated, Hamas terrorists inflicting as much pain and suffering on women and girls as possible and then murdering them. It is appalling,” the US President said, quoted The Guardian.
Hamas rejected the claims and Biden's remarks in a statement on its Telegram channel. The report mentioned that Hamas said Biden’s comments were false accusations and that he was joining Israel’s effort to cover up war crimes in Gaza committed with US support.
To Hamas' claims, Sandberg asked if the world should believe them, or "the women whose bodies tell us how they spent the last minutes of their lives". The report added that she also called for a "full and fair investigation" from the UN into the matter.
The meeting was attended by about 800 people including diplomats from dozens of countries, Israeli officials and frontline workers, senior US politicians and activists from both countries.
The Guardian mentioned that the attendees watched videos from police interviews with first responders who described genital mutilation and shooting at breasts. One of the survivors of the attack on the Supernova rave described witnessing a gang-rape, the report further read.
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