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‘It Has to Be Told and Believed’: Former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg Discusses Documenting Hamas’ Oct. 7 Sexual Assault
Sheryl Sandberg at the 2022 Women’s Media Awards at The Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York, New York, on Nov. 17, 2022. Photo: Gabriele Holtermann-Gorden/Sipa via Reuters Connect
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s former chief operating officer, recently discussed her commitment to sharing with the world through her recently released YouTube documentary the first-hand testimonies and stories of women who were sexually assaulted, raped, abducted, and murdered during the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel.
“It’s very hard to watch, but this is a story that has to be told and believed. It really is the most important work of my life,” Sandberg told People magazine in a recent interview. “No matter what flag you fly, no matter what you’re marching for, no matter what you believe, rape is not acceptable as a tool of war. Full stop.”
Sandberg, 54, flew to Israel in late January to film a YouTube documentary she titled “Screams Before Silence,” in which she speaks with witnesses and survivors of the Oct. 7 attacks who share their first-hand testimonies of sexual assault and rape. The almost hour-long documentary includes interviews with freed hostages, first responders, legal, medical, and forensic experts, and experts in the field of sexual violence, one of whom explained why rape is such an effective tool in war. The film was released in mid-April and has garnered over 1 million views on YouTube.
Former hostages have spoken publicly about the sexual abuse they experienced by Hamas terrorists, and there has been widespread evidence that sexual violence took place both during the Oct. 7 Hamas assault and afterwards against hostages. The United Nations said there is “clear and convincing information” and “reasonable grounds” to believe rape and other forms of sexual violence were committed by Hamas. Still, many deny that Hamas terrorists carried out sexual violence against their victims on Oct. 7, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
“This documentary is the story of how so many women and men — how many, we may never know — spent the last moments of their lives. People need to see the facts here,” Sandberg told People magazine, in response to a question about those who deny the sexual violence discussed in her film. “People need to be honest about what happened on Oct 7. And if it doesn’t fit into your narrative, then rethink your narrative,” she added. “We need to remain united no matter what else you think. We’ve got to be united against sexual assault.”
When asked why she felt compelled to make “Screams Before Silence,” Sandberg replied, “I had to do this.”
“I wish this work wasn’t necessary, but I really feel like everything I’ve done in my life has led me to this moment where I could help bear witness,” she explained. “I’ve obviously been a businessperson and I’ve been a very outspoken feminist for a very long time. But I didn’t think in my lifetime, especially after #MeToo, that I would see such a lack of outrage at best or denial at worst of the sexual violence that occurred on Oct. 7. I can’t let that happen.”
She also told People the sexual violence that occurred on Oct. 7 needs to be considered a global issue.
“Rape goes to the heart of who we are,” she said. “What’s interesting is that Hamas seems very proud of what they’ve done [in attacking Israel], reminding everyone that they’re going to keep coming back again and again. Yet they deny the rapes. In a world where they’re saying, ‘Yay, we killed Jews,’ they are denying that the rapes happened. This can’t just be a women’s issue. It’s got to be an issue for all of us.”
The post ‘It Has to Be Told and Believed’: Former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg Discusses Documenting Hamas’ Oct. 7 Sexual Assault first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
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