Latest news with #MichalHerzog
Toronto Sun
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
KINSELLA: Dinah Project report documents Hamas' use of sexual violence
A copy of the report by the Dinah Project on sexual violence committed on Oct. 7, 2023 by Hamas is displayed by a journalist before a ceremony presenting the report to Israel's first lady Michal Herzog in Jerusalem, Tuesday, July 8, 2025. Photo by Maya Alleruzzo / AP Photo Horrible. The Dinah Project is a group of feminists and female legal experts from around the world, including Canada. This week, they released a report — a book, really — that provides, in forensic detail, evidence about the extreme sexual violence Israeli women and girls experienced at the hands of Hamas and Gazans on and after Oct. 7, 2023. Their report, many months in the making, is indeed horrible. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Their mandate was 'gather, analyze and verify information on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) from Oct. 7 onwards.' They did that. They 'documented clear evidence of severe sexual acts such as rape, torture and humiliation. Incidents of rape and gang rape occurred at several locations (in Israel), notably the Nova music festival, Hwy. 232 and Kibbutz Re'im.' The Dinah Project does important work. It has briefed the UN Security Council, the UN Commissioner of Human Rights in Geneva, White House senior staff and ministers, ambassadors and diplomats from around the world. For most, their work, and their word, is not in dispute. They have won awards and accolades for what they do. Their new report, running nearly 100 single-spaced pages, is not for the faint of heart. Titled A Quest for Justice , the report — funded in part by the U.K. government, universities and human rights groups — is almost certainly going to serve as the evidentiary basis for prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity when the Hamas-Israel conflict ends. Over 18 months, the group interviewed hundreds of eyewitnesses and surviving victims — along with first responders, morgue personnel and health-care professionals. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Their conclusion: 'Clear patterns emerged in how the sexual violence was perpetrated, including victims found partially or fully naked with their hands tied, often to structures like trees or poles; evidence of gang rapes followed by execution; genital mutilation; and public humiliation. Sexual violence continued in captivity with multiple returnees reporting sexual harassment … Most victims were permanently silenced — either murdered during or after the assaults or remaining too traumatized to talk.' Antisemites, of course, have always denied atrocities against Jews. Holocaust deniers like Ernst Zundel or Jim Keegstra, for example, repeatedly denied the slaughter of six million Jews by the Nazis. Similarly, a new generation of deniers, some motivated by antisemitism or anti-Israeli bias , has appeared since Oct. 7, denying the atrocities, denying the violence. And, in particular, denying the extreme sexual violence that took place on and after that terrible day. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Knowing this, the Dinah Project knew their report could not be speculative or open to debate. 'A solid factual foundation is essential,' they wrote. And, they wrote, 'we seek to set the historical record straight: Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war.' Their report, as horrible as it is, leaves little doubt about that. Says the report: 'No source was accepted at face value. Each piece of evidence was first scrutinized to assess its relevance to our subject matter and then analyzed for its content and evidentiary value.' Seventeen witnesses saw and described rapes, gang rapes, sexual violence and mutilations. Fifteen returned hostages, too, reported 'extreme sexual assaults,' sexual violence and dehumanization. Notes the report: 'In most of cases, the rape victims were murdered during or immediately following the assault. There was more than one report of continuous sexual assault after the victim was no longer alive.' In more than 30 eyewitness accounts at six different locations, first responders and eyewitnesses described 'bodies with objects inserted into their private parts, bodies with signs of shooting or other mutilations in the area of the genitalia, bodies of naked women cuffed onto trees, bodies of half-naked or fully naked women, some lying with their genitalia exposed and legs spread.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Most of that happened at the Nova Music festival, but it also happened at Kibbutz Be'eri, just up the road from Nova. It happened on the road leading to Nova and Be'eri, too, and at different kibbutzim. It is evil. It is horrible. All of it is also fact for any reasonable person who has read the report. Which brings us to University of Toronto religion professor Ruth Marshall. Marshall, still gainfully employed at the prestigious Canadian university, has written online that 'there wasn't rape there was a RAPE HOAX.' She has reposted statements that 'querying the rape narrative' is appropriate. She is a signatory to a letter/petition that stated testimonies about Oct. 7 rapes and assaults were 'unverified accusation(s) that Palestinians were guilty of sexual violence.' Gfy. This is an obscene piece, equating the systematic rape of 50k Bosnian women to the rape hoax perpetrated by a genocidal regime that is now a global pariah. Israel slaughtered 100s of its own citizens and then invented rape stories. And you're talking about morality? 🤮 — Dr Ruth Marshall is Kicking Against the Pricks (@wtfis2bdone) July 21, 2024 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Nobody here is shilling for the rapists. Israel is the only country that has literal RIOTS in support of serial rapists who then go on to be TV celebs. Stop projecting onto Hamas the evil and crimes committed by Israel. The Oct 7 rape stories were a hasbara hoax. — Dr Ruth Marshall is Kicking Against the Pricks (@wtfis2bdone) October 26, 2024 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. I see yr still spreading the rape hoax, debunked even by Israeli media. Just like they confirmed the Hannibal directive was in effect and was responsible for many of the Nova deaths. You can't impress me w hasbara, because I know what I'm talking about. Enjoy the block. — Dr Ruth Marshall is Kicking Against the Pricks (@wtfis2bdone) October 9, 2024 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In the week that the Dinah Project report was released, it was timely to ask Marshall if she still stood by these words. Whether she still denied the barbarity Israeli women and girls experienced on Oct. 7 and on the days that followed. Whether the rapes were 'a hoax' — which, coincidentally, is what Zundel called the Holocaust. By press time, Marshall had not responded and she had not disavowed her denials of rape. Which, in itself, is horrible, too. NHL Toronto Blue Jays Golf Celebrity Toronto & GTA
Fox News
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Israel's quest for justice exposes Hamas' systematic sexual violence campaign during October 7 massacre
Rape, gang-rape and acts of extreme sexual violence carried out by Hamas terrorists during their brutal Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel were part of a well-planned systematic weapon of war, a report, based on collated, open-source evidence and new testimonies, has found. Authored by The Dinah Project, a global initiative advancing justice for victims of conflict-related sexual violence, the 80-page report titled "A Quest for Justice: October 7 and Beyond" calls on international human rights groups to recognize that Hamas weaponized sexual violence as part of its atrocities and demands that the U.N. secretary general blacklist the Palestinian terror group. "The main goal is to provide, for the first time, a comprehensive framework, based on all the available information, that has been analyzed and cross-checked from a legal perspective to prove that sexual violence was indeed used as a weapon of war by Hamas on October 7," Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, director of the Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women at Bar-Ilan University, which oversees the Dinah Project, told Fox News Digital. "Based on that, we hope to develop or to propose a legal theory that allows for the prosecution of all the terrorists who took part in the attack and hold them responsible and accountable for all the acts of sexual violence that were perpetrated," said Halperin-Kaddari, who officially presented the report to Israel's first lady Michal Herzog, wife of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, on Tuesday. While accounts of sexual violence, including rape, gang-rape and genital mutilation, emerged quickly following Hamas' brutal attack that sparked 20 months of war in Gaza, some in the international community – including multiple women's rights groups – cast doubt on the reports due to a lack of physical evidence or of victims. Most of the victims, Halperin-Kaddari pointed out, were either murdered, taken hostage or too traumatized to speak about their experience. "It was a huge disappointment that the international human rights community could not handle the truth or escape the politicization of this issue," she said, adding, "it's a sign of a failure by the international human rights community that could not accept a complex situation where one side in the conflict, which is always perceived to be the victim, turns into the aggressor and uses the most horrific kind of crime -- rapes and sexual violence -- to advance their cause." Under pressure, some international organizations such as UN Women and the International Criminal Court in The Hague did carry out investigations, which concurred with accounts from witnesses and first responders that sexual violence and rapes had taken place. The Dinah Project's report builds on those investigations, bringing together, for the first time, first-hand testimonies, including from 15 returned hostages, 17 eye and earwitnesses, and 27 first responders. According to the report, which also draws from forensic evidence, as well as visual and audio documentation, "sexual violence was widespread and systematic" during the attack, which saw more than 1,200 people, civilians and soldiers murdered, and some 251 taken hostage back to Gaza. Further, the report found that the acts of rape, gang-rape and other forms of sexual violence took place in at least six different locations: the Nova music festival, Route 232, Nahal Oz military base, and Kibbutzim Re'im, Nir Oz and Kfar Aza. "Clear patterns emerged in how the sexual violence was perpetrated, including victims found partially or fully naked with their hands tied, often to structures like trees or poles; evidence of gang rapes followed by execution; genital mutilation; and public humiliation," said the report. For those who were taken hostage, sexual violence continued into captivity, with multiple returnees reporting "forced nudity, physical and verbal sexual harassment, sexual assaults, and threats of forced marriage," the report found. "Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon, as part of a genocidal scheme and with the goal of terrorizing and dehumanizing Israeli society, a finding with significant implications for international justice mechanisms," the report's authors write, outlining some "practical frameworks for achieving accountability." Among the recommendations, the report urges the international community to view conflict-related sexual violence as a "distinct category," different from everyday sexual offenses; to take into consideration "the systematic silencing of victims; to utilize more diverse forms of admissible evidence, including eyewitness accounts and circumstantial evidence; and to apply joint criminal responsibility to all participants in the attack, rather than requiring direct links between individual perpetrators and specific acts and victims." "We also seek to set the historical record straight: Hamas used sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war," the authors write, adding, "This report thus sets the stage for future criminal and other domestic and international proceedings against Hamas terrorists, leaders and collaborators." Israeli first lady Michal Herzog, who received The Dinah Project's report on Tuesday, said in a statement that it "lays out the truth." "On behalf of all those harmed, we must continue to fight until their voices are heard everywhere and justice is served," she said, adding, "as a woman, a mother, and an Israeli, I read the reports with a broken heart… it challenges the global silence, replaces denial with facts, and calls on the world to recognize sexual violence as a crime against humanity and to prosecute those responsible."
Glasgow Times
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Glasgow Times
Hamas used sexual violence as ‘weapon of war' in 2023 attacks
The report, by the Dinah Project, a team of legal and gender experts, builds on other investigations by international and Israeli human rights groups and the United Nations. It based its findings on survivor and witness testimonies, accounts from emergency services personnel, and forensic, visual and audio evidence. It called for a shift in how conflict-related sexual violence was prosecuted, saying Hamas had silenced its victims by killing them, robbing investigators of key evidence. 'Most victims were permanently silenced — either murdered during or after the assaults or remain too traumatised to talk — creating unique evidentiary challenges,' the report said, calling for a more tailored legal approach. Israel's first lady Michal Herzog, centre, is presented with a report by the Dinah Project (Maya Alleruzzo/AP) The report comes as Israel and Hamas are negotiating a ceasefire for the 21-month war in Gaza, which began with the militants' surprise cross-border raid. The deal would pause the fighting in the Palestinian territory and release some of the remaining 50 hostages, more than half whom are said to be dead. The report said it had relied on dozens of accounts, including from one survivor of attempted rape at a music festival, 15 returned hostages, 17 witnesses and multiple emergency service personnel. In some cases, the Dinah Project carried out its own interviews, while in others it relied on publicly available testimony or published accounts. Citing accounts in Israeli and international media, it said 15 former hostages either experienced or witnessed some form of sexual assault which included physical sexual violence, forced nudity, verbal sexual harassment and threats of forced marriage. Two male hostages said they faced forced nudity and physical abuse when naked. A freed hostage is embraced after her testimony at a ceremony presenting the report (Maya Alleruzzo/AP) The report said witness accounts indicated at least 15 separate cases of sexual assault, including at least four instances of gang rape. The report said its findings showed patterns in the assaults, including victims found partially or fully naked with their hands tied, evidence of gang rape followed by killing, genital mutilation and public humiliation, indicating they were intentionally used as a weapon of war. A Hamas official did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hamas has previously denied claims that its forces carried out sexual violence on October 7 2023, when militants stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. In a report last year, the United Nations said there were 'reasonable grounds' to believe Hamas committed rape, 'sexualised torture', and other cruel and inhumane treatment of women during its attack. In issuing arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders who were eventually killed by Israel, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said they bore responsibility for 'rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity' during the October 7 attack. The report recommended that conflict-related sexual violence should be treated differently from regular sexual crimes to allow for evidence that did not primarily rely on testimony from victims, to account for 'the systematic silencing of victims'. It called for different forms of evidence to be admitted in any prosecution and for joint criminal responsibility to be applied to all participants in the attack, rather than trying to link individual perpetrators to specific acts and victims. This approach would create 'a pathway to justice for victims of the October 7 attack and potentially for victims in other conflict zones', the report said. 'We must learn from past experience and the understanding that we, as Israeli women, must shout our voices for those who can no longer shout, and we must bring them justice,' said Michal Herzog, the first Lady of Israel.
South Wales Argus
09-07-2025
- Politics
- South Wales Argus
Hamas used sexual violence as ‘weapon of war' in 2023 attacks
The report, by the Dinah Project, a team of legal and gender experts, builds on other investigations by international and Israeli human rights groups and the United Nations. It based its findings on survivor and witness testimonies, accounts from emergency services personnel, and forensic, visual and audio evidence. It called for a shift in how conflict-related sexual violence was prosecuted, saying Hamas had silenced its victims by killing them, robbing investigators of key evidence. 'Most victims were permanently silenced — either murdered during or after the assaults or remain too traumatised to talk — creating unique evidentiary challenges,' the report said, calling for a more tailored legal approach. Israel's first lady Michal Herzog, centre, is presented with a report by the Dinah Project (Maya Alleruzzo/AP) The report comes as Israel and Hamas are negotiating a ceasefire for the 21-month war in Gaza, which began with the militants' surprise cross-border raid. The deal would pause the fighting in the Palestinian territory and release some of the remaining 50 hostages, more than half whom are said to be dead. The report said it had relied on dozens of accounts, including from one survivor of attempted rape at a music festival, 15 returned hostages, 17 witnesses and multiple emergency service personnel. In some cases, the Dinah Project carried out its own interviews, while in others it relied on publicly available testimony or published accounts. Citing accounts in Israeli and international media, it said 15 former hostages either experienced or witnessed some form of sexual assault which included physical sexual violence, forced nudity, verbal sexual harassment and threats of forced marriage. Two male hostages said they faced forced nudity and physical abuse when naked. A freed hostage is embraced after her testimony at a ceremony presenting the report (Maya Alleruzzo/AP) The report said witness accounts indicated at least 15 separate cases of sexual assault, including at least four instances of gang rape. The report said its findings showed patterns in the assaults, including victims found partially or fully naked with their hands tied, evidence of gang rape followed by killing, genital mutilation and public humiliation, indicating they were intentionally used as a weapon of war. A Hamas official did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hamas has previously denied claims that its forces carried out sexual violence on October 7 2023, when militants stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. In a report last year, the United Nations said there were 'reasonable grounds' to believe Hamas committed rape, 'sexualised torture', and other cruel and inhumane treatment of women during its attack. In issuing arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders who were eventually killed by Israel, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said they bore responsibility for 'rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity' during the October 7 attack. The report recommended that conflict-related sexual violence should be treated differently from regular sexual crimes to allow for evidence that did not primarily rely on testimony from victims, to account for 'the systematic silencing of victims'. It called for different forms of evidence to be admitted in any prosecution and for joint criminal responsibility to be applied to all participants in the attack, rather than trying to link individual perpetrators to specific acts and victims. This approach would create 'a pathway to justice for victims of the October 7 attack and potentially for victims in other conflict zones', the report said. 'We must learn from past experience and the understanding that we, as Israeli women, must shout our voices for those who can no longer shout, and we must bring them justice,' said Michal Herzog, the first Lady of Israel.
The Herald Scotland
09-07-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Hamas used sexual violence as ‘weapon of war' in 2023 attacks
It based its findings on survivor and witness testimonies, accounts from emergency services personnel, and forensic, visual and audio evidence. It called for a shift in how conflict-related sexual violence was prosecuted, saying Hamas had silenced its victims by killing them, robbing investigators of key evidence. 'Most victims were permanently silenced — either murdered during or after the assaults or remain too traumatised to talk — creating unique evidentiary challenges,' the report said, calling for a more tailored legal approach. Israel's first lady Michal Herzog, centre, is presented with a report by the Dinah Project (Maya Alleruzzo/AP) The report comes as Israel and Hamas are negotiating a ceasefire for the 21-month war in Gaza, which began with the militants' surprise cross-border raid. The deal would pause the fighting in the Palestinian territory and release some of the remaining 50 hostages, more than half whom are said to be dead. The report said it had relied on dozens of accounts, including from one survivor of attempted rape at a music festival, 15 returned hostages, 17 witnesses and multiple emergency service personnel. In some cases, the Dinah Project carried out its own interviews, while in others it relied on publicly available testimony or published accounts. Citing accounts in Israeli and international media, it said 15 former hostages either experienced or witnessed some form of sexual assault which included physical sexual violence, forced nudity, verbal sexual harassment and threats of forced marriage. Two male hostages said they faced forced nudity and physical abuse when naked. A freed hostage is embraced after her testimony at a ceremony presenting the report (Maya Alleruzzo/AP) The report said witness accounts indicated at least 15 separate cases of sexual assault, including at least four instances of gang rape. The report said its findings showed patterns in the assaults, including victims found partially or fully naked with their hands tied, evidence of gang rape followed by killing, genital mutilation and public humiliation, indicating they were intentionally used as a weapon of war. A Hamas official did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hamas has previously denied claims that its forces carried out sexual violence on October 7 2023, when militants stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. In a report last year, the United Nations said there were 'reasonable grounds' to believe Hamas committed rape, 'sexualised torture', and other cruel and inhumane treatment of women during its attack. In issuing arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders who were eventually killed by Israel, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said they bore responsibility for 'rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity' during the October 7 attack. The report recommended that conflict-related sexual violence should be treated differently from regular sexual crimes to allow for evidence that did not primarily rely on testimony from victims, to account for 'the systematic silencing of victims'. It called for different forms of evidence to be admitted in any prosecution and for joint criminal responsibility to be applied to all participants in the attack, rather than trying to link individual perpetrators to specific acts and victims. This approach would create 'a pathway to justice for victims of the October 7 attack and potentially for victims in other conflict zones', the report said. 'We must learn from past experience and the understanding that we, as Israeli women, must shout our voices for those who can no longer shout, and we must bring them justice,' said Michal Herzog, the first Lady of Israel.
