Gaza: BBC, CNN ventilating Western lies about abuse, violence
THE problem that people are facing in their failure to understand the goings on in Gaza is because they want to start from October 7, 2023, instead of 1948 when the Israelis started committing serious crimes against humanity towards Palestinians.
Now, global media organisations from either side of the Atlantic, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Cable News Network (CNN), recently published reports by a United Nations (UN) team alleging that Hamas resistance fighters likely abused women hostages held since October 7 last year.
The team said there is “convincing information” that hostages held by Hamas were subjected to sexual violence including rape and torture.
It should not be overlooked that to reach at these conclusions, the UN team held 33 meetings with Israeli officials and none with Hamas, yet the team admitted that not one victim came forward.
Starting with the premise that sexual violence in war is not uncommon, it also need to be acknowledged that where it happens, it is abhorrent and must be punished when it occurs.
The Israeli war on Gaza is no different, if sexual violence has occurred, there exists reason to seek the perpetrators and be punished.
As much, those who have exacerbated the war, turning it into a genocide should also be tried as it is absolutely out of balance and cannot be accepted as decent or a normal response, when by any definition it has ceased to be seen as self-defence.
Establishing whether there were acts of rape, sexual assault, or sexualised torture committed is a crucial step to ensuring accountability.
However, the BBC and CNN, both pro-Israel mouthpieces have failed the test of objectivity and balance as the cornerstones in journalism.
The BBC attempted some balance with a collection of direct and misleading quotes from the UN report saying “some allegations of rape and sexual violence could not be verified” or were “unfounded”.
This included a graphically illustrated case of a pregnant woman whose womb was reportedly torn open and her foetus stabbed.
The UN team also said it had not been able to establish any discernible pattern of genital mutilation on the purportedly held hostages. Thus, some of the allega
The is keen US to have Hamas to consent to an instant ceasefire, yet it continues to send military supplies to Israel and deploying troops to the region and maintaining the narrative in the mainstream media that Hamas is to blame. The world is not persuaded
tions have been proven to be false and none of the allegations have yet been proven to be true.
Those familiar with the CNN and BBC’s reporting style should always study their sources.
In this instance, the source is a report released by the UN on March 4 by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
While the UN is reflected in many of the comments made in the report, one important detail is absent from both: the report acknowledges that the evidence presented did not meet the level of “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
It further noted that many of the victims and witnesses were relocated inside Israel or to other countries, making it impossible to speak with them, and that certain first responders are unable to speak with them because of military deployments. It is therefore inconclusive.
While acknowledging that rape is a possibility, the UN said unequivocally that “no tangible indications of rape could be identified.”
This befits the moral position from the Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades’ fighters who pledged that “avoiding harm to civilians, especially children, women, and elderly persons is a religious and moral obligation” they held.
Thus, a clear conflict exists. It is therefore difficult to believe the CNN and BBC’s narratives.
In what is now believed to be an Israeli genocide against Palestinians, it is also difficult to believe that no violent sexual acts have been committed against Palestinian women and girls by the Israeli occupying forces which the UN team did little to talk to.
In Gaza, the Israeli forces are acting inhumanely and too aggressively.
According to the International Court of Justice, this constitutes a “plausible genocide.”
A genocide that, in the event of a truce, may end today. However, the US has informed the UN that delicate talks, rather than a ceasefire, are required.
Despite President Biden’s assertions recently that a ceasefire was approaching, the US is the only nation to have vetoed one, and it appears that it has no interest in seeing one.
The US is keen to have Hamas to consent to an instant ceasefire, yet it continues to send military supplies to Israel and deploying troops to the region and maintaining the narrative in the mainstream media that Hamas is to blame. The world is not persuaded.
This inhumane position of the US has led to protests in western capitals, making it evident that this is not a popular war.
In one respect, the US may be right that “sensitive negotiations” to end the Israeli genocide against Palestinians are necessary.
However, the “sensitive negotiations” have waited for the estimated 73 000 injured, the families and friends of the over 31 000 already dead, and the thousands of people who are missing.
Instead, an immediate end to the circumstances that permit the deaths, injuries, hunger, and thirst of the Palestinian people who are still trapped in Gaza must unquestionably take precedence.
As Aaron Bushnell, an active member of the US Air Force said before his self-immolation: “I’m an active-duty member of the United States Air Force, and I will no longer be complicit in genocide. Free Palestine.”
There is an ongoing wind of change among US citizens.
They are beginning to see the dangerous lies and propaganda of the powerful western media that is blinding how they see the misfortunes of Palestinians in Gaza.
While humanitarian conditions are despicable and horrible, for the BBC and CNN to mislead the audiences gives clarity that they are not essentially based on truth and objectivity, but misleading narratives.