Amit Soussana is the first former hostage to publicly say she was sexually abused in captivity. A U.N. report has said it found “clear and convincing information” that some hostages suffered “conflict-related sexual violence.”

Ms. Soussana, 40, is the first Israeli to speak publicly about being sexually assaulted during captivity after the Hamas-led raid on southern Israel. In her interviews with The Times, conducted mostly in English, she provided extensive details of sexual and other violence she suffered during a 55-day ordeal.

Ms. Soussana’s personal account of her experience in captivity is consistent with what she told two doctors and a social worker less than 24 hours after she was freed on Nov. 30. Their reports about her account state the nature of the sexual act; The Times agreed not to disclose the specifics.

. . .

For months, Hamas and its supporters have denied that its members sexually abused people in captivity or during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. This month, a United Nations report said that there was “clear and convincing information” that some hostages had suffered sexual violence and there were “reasonable grounds” to believe sexual violence occurred during the raid, while acknowledging the “challenges and limitations” of examining the issue.

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    • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.worldEnglish
      86·
      8 months ago

      No disagreement here really. This doesn’t justify Israel’s war crimes at all. Whether Hamas is effectively the same as the IDF or not, they’re a bunch of radicalized shitheads who do not in any way represent the Palestinians. They’re closer to ruling dictators than they are champions of the people.

        • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.worldEnglish
          72·
          8 months ago

          Something I’ve recently realized is that I can and should do more to call out the genocide proponents. I generally don’t engage with them because there’s no intelligent discussion to be had there, and there’s a lot more interesting and nuanced things to talk about with people who agree this is a genocide that needs to stop.

          But, that does give the illusion that the genocide proponents aren’t being challenged, and that instead of harshly criticizing Israel I’m just saying “both sides bad”. That’s something I’m going to try and improve on, because I need to make it crystal clear that Hamas’ actions are not even remotely an excuse for the IDF to be genocidal.

    • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1622·
      8 months ago

      Hamas is not the same as israel. The difference in civilian and especially child casualties says enough.

      Israel is far far worse than Hamas.

        • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldEnglish
          109·
          8 months ago

          Netanyahu funded them because he considered them convenient at the time. Just like how America funded the Taliban and other groups that aligned with their interests.

          And as usual with these groups, their funder loses control over them when they grow to big and it backfires.

            • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
              72·
              8 months ago

              I don’t think Hamas is an asset to Israel. In the 90s, maybe 00s sure, but that hasn’t been the case for a good while. Hamas and other Palestinian armed resistance are the reason Israel keeps losing international support. It’s more obvious now, but this has been the case for a while now; the scale of destruction Israel causes in Gaza inevitably makes the news, and every time that happens Israel loses just a little bit of popular support in the West. The state of support for Israel we’re seeing now isn’t just because of the unprecedented scale of Israel’s atrocities, but also because even on October 7th there was a significant number of people who knew that Israel is up to no good due to their repeated “escapades” in Gaza. This is why organizations like Amnesty International consider Israel an Apartheid state.

              Meanwhile look at the West Bank; they’re ruled under brutal military law, held up in checkpoints and subjected to horrific levels of abuse and humiliation (including being forced to strip naked so they be “examined”), are repeatedly attacked by the IDF for reason or no reason and to top it off they’re being driven from their homes every day, but how often do they make the news? Even now the situation in the West Bank is being reported on as an accessory to the Gaza “war”.

              What I wanna say is: Hamas is a very big part of the reason Israel is losing international support, and since international support is their lifeline this is really bad for them. If Hamas and other such organizations didn’t exist and Gaza was like the West Bank the Palestinian cause would be in a much worse place now (though whether that’s worth the lives being lost is another story).

            • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.worldEnglish
              21·
              8 months ago

              Yeah what I was trying to say is that there’s effectively three sides. Hamas, IDF, and the civilians. The first two are bad, but not the third, even though the third is the one suffering, mostly in Palestine.

            • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldEnglish
              46·
              8 months ago

              Currently israel is losing all global rep. Their facade of the moral army has fallen and they are seen for the Genocidal maniacs they are. Not a massively successful land grab so far.

              The downfall is always arrogance. They boast groups that fight their enemies like Hamas to divide and conquer. But then the Hamas grows so big that they beat all other groups. And then they start fighting israel.