Allegation: Claim of the atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, including sexual assault, are unverified or fake.

The fact that 1200 people were brutally murdered, mutilated, burned, raped and desecrated by Hamas terrorists, and that 240 people were abducted from their homes and taken hostage inside Gaza, is undeniable and incontrovertible.  

Part, but only part, of the evidence for these atrocities comes from Hamas itself which proudly shared self-filmed videos of terrorists gleefully celebrating murders, humiliations and seizing innocents as hostages. Others come from videos from security cameras, survivors and rescuers, photos of blood-streaked homes and victims, and testimony of hundreds of civilians who spent hours hiding from Hamas terrorists, lost relatives, or saw their friends taken hostage.  

Those responsible for identifying the bodies of the Oct. 7 victims have also publicly documented what they found during that process, and shared important details about the methods Hamas employed during their rampage.   

It has been especially alarming to hear some question Hamas’ documented widespread perpetration of sexual violence against both women and men, many of whom were killed on October 7.  This despite testimony from witnesses, graphic photo evidence, demonstrates a willfulness to refuse to give Israeli victims the same credence given to sexual assault victims worldwide.   

To hear claims that what happened is unverified – or even manufactured – is painful, and comes from a determination to whitewash Hamas’ massacre. It has echoes of those who have tried to deny that the Holocaust transpired, or claims that teenage witnesses to school massacres in the US are “crisis actors.”