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October 7: Rape As an Instrument of Genocide
An Israeli soldier walks near pictures that are part of an installation at the site of the Nova festival, where people were killed and kidnapped during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, in Reim, southern Israel, Jan. 14, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
JNS.org – As the world marked International Women’s Day on March 8, the various social-media platforms lit up with posts from pro-Israel celebrities and influencers demanding the release of the female hostages who remain in the captivity of the Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
In the depths of the sewer that is social media—with X/Twitter at the head of the pack when it comes to antisemitic and anti-Zionist barbs—these posts were a welcome tonic, providing us with a glimpse of humanity amid all the hatred and dehumanization. But what they won’t achieve is the defeat of the Oct. 7 denial trend that is being actively stoked by far-leftists (and a few far-rightists, too), Islamist sympathizers and fellow travelers, assorted minor academics, virtue-signaling Gen Z’ers and many more of the sub groups encountered on these platforms.
I was struck, as I surveyed these outpourings, by a simple realization. We—the Jewish community and the non-Jewish allies we cling to—have been stuck at the first hurdle in telling the terrible story of Oct. 7. Too many people don’t believe us. Too many people won’t believe us. The atrocities—the mass rapes and decapitations, the orgy of slaughter—are, in their fevered minds, a cynical Zionist fabrication designed to do what Zionists always do: Change the subject and shift the world’s attention from the situation on the ground in Gaza.
Just as there is no point in debating Holocaust deniers—all of whom are predisposed to the belief that the Holocaust was fabricated for the purpose of winning sympathy for Jews and Israel, but who nonetheless would embrace the opportunity to finish what Hitler started (or didn’t start!)—there is no point in debating Oct. 7 deniers. These are not people who sift through evidence with an open mind. They come from an ideologically fixed position. They are unbending.
To my mind, there is a more important task than arguing with these useful idiots. And that is securing the recognition that the bestialities carried out by Hamas were war crimes and crimes against humanity. The pogrom was a necessary, integral component of its bid to destroy what the Hamas charter calls the “Zionist project” it characterizes as “the enemy of the Arab and Islamic Ummah… a danger to international security and peace and to mankind and its interests and stability.” In other words, a program of genocide.
That perhaps explains why so many commentators sympathetic to Israel hailed the recent U.N. report confirming many of the accounts of sexual violence committed by the Hamas monsters on Oct. 7. The United Nations, a thoroughly anti-Zionist body despite the fact that Israel is a member state, not only authenticated these claims but opened the door to a legal process targeting the Hamas leadership and its key operatives.
It is that latter goal that we need to focus on: The creation of an international tribunal to prosecute Hamas for its crimes in the legal tradition established by the post-World War II Nuremburg trials, as well as more recent international courts to try the atrocities committed in Bosnia, Kosovo and Rwanda.
By the United Nations own legal calculus, the foundations for such a tribunal are firm. Witnesses interviewed by the world body’s investigative team during its visit to Israel effectively described Oct. 7 as an “indiscriminate campaign to kill, inflict suffering and abduct the maximum number possible of men, women and children—soldiers and civilians alike—in the minimum possible amount of time. People were shot, often at close range; burnt alive in their homes as they tried to hide in their safe rooms; gunned down or killed by grenades in bomb shelters where they sought refuge; and hunted down at the Nova music festival site as well as in the fields and roads adjacent to the Nova music festival ground. Other violations included sexual violence, abduction of hostages and corpses, the public display of captives, both dead and alive, the mutilation of corpses, including decapitation, and the looting and destruction of civilian property.” At the Nova site, as well as on Road 232, the artery used by some festival-goers to escape the onslaught, and at the kibbutzim overran by the terrorists, the U.N. team found that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred… including in the form of rape and gang rape, during the 7 October 2023 attacks.”
When it comes to prosecuting these horrors, there is a clear precedent set by the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when 850,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were slaughtered by the loathed Interahamwe militias. One of the perpetrators, a former schoolteacher named Jean-Paul Akayesu, was prosecuted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on 15 counts that included rape. Through its deliberations, the tribunal determined that rape and sexual violence “constitute acts of genocide insofar as they were committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a targeted group, as such. It found that sexual assault formed an integral part of the process of destroying the Tutsi ethnic group and that the rape was systematic and had been perpetrated against Tutsi women only, manifesting the specific intent required for those acts to constitute genocide.”
These words apply to the Oct. 7 atrocities with the same degree of legitimacy. Hamas is dedicated not just to the destruction of Israel as a sovereign state, but the physical destruction of its Jewish citizens as well. The rapes on Oct. 7 cannot be explained as the consequence of high spirits, ease of access to young, defenseless women by armed men or the effect of the amphetamines ingested by some of the terrorists. Rape was a predetermined part of their genocidal strategy, as necessary for the fulfilment of their aims as the murders and other atrocities.
Not surprisingly, the United Nations has given little indication that it intends to act on the findings of its own report. Both the Israeli government and the Jewish organizations present at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva need to hold the organization to account. The global agency now recognizes that the accounts of mass rape were genuine, and it recognizes, too, that rape is a key instrument for the execution of a genocide. We learned that in the Balkans and in East Africa, and now we’ve seen the same phenomenon in Israel as well. So, let’s worry less about what the deniers think and more about securing justice for the victims.
The post October 7: Rape As an Instrument of Genocide first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Brooklyn Nets Select Israeli Basketball Players Ben Saraf, Danny Wolf in NBA Draft
The opening tip between the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards, at Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, Dec. 13, 2020. Photo: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect
In a landmark night for Israeli basketball, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf were selected in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft by the Brooklyn Nets, marking the first time two Israeli players have been drafted in the same year.
Saraf, a 19-year-old guard known for his explosive athleticism and creative playmaking, was taken with the 26th pick. A standout with Maccabi Rishon LeZion and a rising star on Israel’s youth national teams, Saraf gained international attention with his electrifying scoring and commanding court presence.
With the 27th pick, the Nets selected 7-foot center Danny Wolf out of the University of Michigan. Wolf, who holds dual US-Israeli citizenship and represented Israel at the U-20 level, brings a versatile skill set, including sharp passing, perimeter shooting, and a strong feel for the game. After his name was called, Wolf grew emotional in an on-air interview, crediting his family for helping him reach the moment.
“I have the two greatest brothers in the world; I have an unbelievable sister who I love,” Wolf said. “They all helped me get to where I am today, and they’re going to help me get to where I am going to go in this league.”
The historic double-pick adds to the growing wave of Israeli presence on the NBA stage, led by Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija, who just completed a breakout 2024–25 season. After being traded to Portland last summer, Avdija thrived as a starter, averaging 16.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists. In March alone, he posted 23.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game, including two triple-doubles.
“I don’t think I’ve played like this before … I knew I had it in me. But I’m not really thinking about it. I’m just playing. I’m just free,” Avdija told reporters in March
With Saraf and Wolf joining Avdija, Israel’s basketball pipeline has reached unprecedented visibility. Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the moment “a national celebration for sports and youth,” and Israeli sports commentators widely hailed the night as “historic.”
Both Saraf and Wolf are expected to suit up for the Nets’ Summer League team in July. As the two rookies begin their NBA journey, they join a growing generation of Israeli athletes proving that their game belongs on basketball’s biggest stage.
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Iran Denies Any Meeting With US Next Week, Foreign Minister Says
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. Photo: Tatyana Makeyeva/Pool via REUTERS
Iran currently has no plan to meet with the United States, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday in an interview on state TV, contradicting US President Donald Trump’s statement that Washington planned to have talks with Iran next week.
The Iranian foreign minister said Tehran was assessing whether talks with the US were in its interest, following five previous rounds of negotiations that were cut short by Israel and the US attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The US and Israel said the strikes were meant to curb Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons, while Iran says its nuclear program is solely geared toward civilian use.
Araqchi said the damages to nuclear sites “were not little” and that relevant authorities were figuring out the new realities of Iran’s nuclear program, which he said would inform Iran’s future diplomatic stance.
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Ireland Becomes First European Nation to Advance Ban on Trade With Israeli Settlements
A pro-Hamas demonstration in Ireland led by nationalist party Sinn Fein. Photo: Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Ireland has become the first European nation to push forward legislation banning trade with Israeli communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — an effort officials say is meant “to address the horrifying situation” in the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday, Irish Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Simon Harris announced that the legislation has already been approved by the government and will now move to the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade for pre-legislative scrutiny.
“Ireland is speaking up and speaking out against the genocidal activity in Gaza,” Harris said during a press conference.
The Irish diplomat also told reporters he hopes the “real benefit” of the legislation will be to encourage other countries to follow suit, “because it is important that every country uses every lever at its disposal.”
Today Ireland becomes the first country in Europe to bring forward legislation to ban trade with the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Ireland is speaking up and speaking out against the genocidal activity in Gaza.
Every country must pull every lever at its disposal. pic.twitter.com/Z4RTjqntEY— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) June 24, 2025
Joining a growing number of EU member states aiming to curb Israel’s defensive campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, Ireland’s decision comes after a 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal.
The ICJ ruled that third countries must avoid trade or investment that supports “the illegal situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Once implemented, the law will criminalize the importation of goods from Israeli settlements into Ireland, empowering customs officials to inspect, seize, and confiscate any such shipments.
“The situation in Palestine remains a matter of deep public concern,” Harris said. “I have made it consistently clear that this government will use all levers at its disposal to address the horrifying situation on the ground and to contribute to long-term efforts to achieve a sustainable peace on the basis of the two-state solution.”
“Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are illegal and threaten the viability of the two-state solution,” the Irish diplomat continued. “This is the longstanding position of the European Union and our international partners. Furthermore, this is the clear position under international law.”
Harris also urged the EU to comply with the ICJ’s ruling by taking a more decisive and “adequate response” regarding imports from Israeli settlements.
“This is an issue that I will continue to press at EU level, and I reiterated my call for concrete proposals from the European Commission at the Foreign Affairs Council this week,” he said.
Last week, Ireland and eight other EU member states — Finland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden — called on the European Commission to draft proposals for how EU countries can halt trade and imports with Israeli settlements, in line with obligations set out by the ICJ.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned the latest move by European countries, calling it “shameful” and a misguided attempt to undermine Israel while it faces “existential” threats from Iran and its proxies, including Hamas.
“It is regrettable that even when Israel is fighting an existential threat which is in Europe’s vital interest — there are those who can’t resist their anti-Israeli obsession,” the top Israeli diplomat said in a post on X.
It is regrettable that even when Israel fighting an existential threat which is in Europe vital interest – there are those who can’t resist their anti-Israeli obsession.
Shameful! https://t.co/lxm9qm8sM1— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) June 19, 2025
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