Look who's banging the rape drum. Where is the evidence...
US says ‘evidence is damning’ on October 7 in UNSC meeting
After Russia said the UN report on October 7 sexual violence is being politicised, the US tells the Security Council (UNSC) there is no room for doubt. “The evidence before us is damning and devastating,” said US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield. “The question now is how will we respond? Will the council condemn Hamas’s sexual violence or will we stay silent?”
She also said that if Hamas “actually cared about the Palestinian people”, it would agree to the six-week truce agreement that the US and others had pitched. Hamas rejected it as it did not offer a permanent ceasefire. The agreement would bring more aid into the Gaza Strip, Thomas-Greenfield said.
She also pointed out that the US has put forward a new resolution to “pave the way to a cessation of hostilities and towards a lasting peace” that also condemns Hamas.
The US has used its veto power in the UNSC three times since October 7 to kill resolutions aimed at ending or scaling down Israel’s war on Gaza.
Russia points to imbalances in UN report on October 7 sexual violence
In the UN Security Council meeting on the sexual violence report, Russia reiterates its condemnation of the October 7 attacks but says more information is needed. Russian representative Maria Zabolotskaya pointed out to the council that the UN special rapporteur released her report on sexual violence after travelling to Israel and the occupied West Bank under Israeli approval whose parameters remain unclear and that she did not visit Gaza. Rapporteur Pramila Patten was also unable to meet the actual sexual assault victims of October 7 and her data mostly came from the Israeli government.
“Only after a comprehensive and objective study of the situation in its entire geographical extent will it be possible to draw any conclusions,” Zabolotskaya said, adding that Russia categorically rejects attempts to manipulate the important issue of combating sexual violence in the conflict.
“We consider it unacceptable that the suffering of people who have experienced sexual violence or accusations of this serious crime become a ‘bargaining chip’ in political games,” she concluded.
UN rapporteur denies suppression of sexual violence report
The UN’s special rapporteur on torture in conflict, Pramila Patten, has explicitly rejected the Israeli claim that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tried to suppress her report on sexual violence in Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
“I must be clear and categorical: There has been no attempt by the secretary-general to silence my report or suppress its findings. On the contrary, I received his full support, politically, logistically and financially, and he also gave clear instructions for the public release of my report and its immediate transmission to the Security Council,” she told the emergency council meeting convened after a call by the US, UK and France.
She also emphasised again that her finding that there was “reasonable grounds” that sexual violence occurred on October 7 does not legitimise further violence by the Israeli military but rather creates a “moral imperative” for a ceasefire in Gaza and to bring the captives back from Gaza.
Palestinian envoy points to UNSC double standards on sexual violence
Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s envoy to the UN, has reminded the Security Council that not a single meeting has been held on evidence found over many years by the UN on sexual violence committed by Israelis against Palestinians.
He said he hopes an unbiased approach will replace this trend from now on and pointed to gaps in the special rapporteur’s work.
While Rapporteur Pramila Patten’s report did not go into details since existing UN evidence points to sexual violence being committed against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, she did not invite any of those entities to present evidence on Monday in New York.
“Let the facts speak; let the law decide,” he said, pointing out that Israel has flat-out refused to cooperate with many UN fact-finding missions and rights inquiries over the years in “its failed attempt to hide the truth”.
Honour Ramadan by ‘silencing the guns’, says UN chief
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has renewed his call for a ceasefire as Ramadan starts and has also called for “removing all obstacles” to the delivery of humanitarian aid. “At the same time – and in the Ramadan spirit of compassion – I call for the immediate release of all hostages,” he said.
“The eyes of the world are watching. The eyes of history are watching.”
We recently entered the sixth month since the Hamas terror attacks in Israel and the catastrophic Israeli onslaught on Gaza began.
The eyes of the world are watching.
The eyes of history are watching.
We cannot look away.
We must act to avoid more preventable deaths. pic.twitter.com/TbpDolb7aT
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) March 11, 2024
