The media corporation Al Jazeera, owned and operated by the Qatari state, decided to retract and remove a series of content pieces accusing the Israel Defense Forces of committing sexual abuse at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
The controversy reached wide circulation after Al Jazeera posted the testimony of a woman Sunday, who asserted at the time that she had witnessed rapes of Palestinian women inside the Gazan hospital.
The Qatari media outlet shortly afterwards removed the article without adding much more detail. The report was, however, picked up by many other media outlets. The Palestinian woman's testimony claimed that IDF soldiers threw the bodies of mutilated women to their dogs, among other gory descriptions of violence.
◾️◾️تبين من خلال تحقيقات حركة حماس إن قصة اغتصاب النساء في #مستشفى_الشفاء مختلقة، طبعا العدو لم يتورع عن جريمة إبادة .
◾️◾️بررت السيدة التي تحدثت عن الاغتصاب مبالغتها وحديثها غير الصحيح بأن الهدف أستثارة حمية الأمة ونخوتها ! وكأن أكثر من ثلاثين ألف شهيد وتسعين ألف جريح ونحو…— ياسر أبوهلالة (@abuhilalah) March 24, 2024
The spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanaani, used these testimonies to condemn Israel's incursion in Gaza, according to the Qatari outlet. The veracity of Al Jazeera's information was called into question after the content was removed from its website.
A former executive of the platform added some clarifications through a post on social media. Abu Hilalah, who was part of the leadership of the Qatari state-owned outlet, asserted that the story published by Al Jazeera was not true. Without citing sources, the executive added that the woman who gave her testimony eventually confessed that the story was not true and that it was an exaggeration. Its purpose, according to Abu Hilalah, was to "arouse fervor and brotherhood" with the situation of the Palestinians in Gaza.
Al Jazeera did not add any official comment about its decision to remove the content.
IDF denies the accusation
The Israeli military denied that the information published Sunday was true. IDF Arabic-language spokesman Avichai Adraee, maintained that "there is no proof of these allegations. A woman called and said she was calling from the so-called medical compound. No one knows who she is. She just claimed and claimed and lied."
بعد أن فشلوا في كل شيء أبواق حماس قامت باختراع كذبة جديدة وهذه المرة نشرت @AJArabic أن جنود اسرائيليين قاموا باغتصاب نساء وقتلهن. طبعا ليس هناك لا دليل لهذه المزاعم. امرأة واحدة اتصلت وقالت إنها تتصل من المجمع الطبي المزعوم. لا احد يعرف من هي. فقط ادعت وزعمت وكذبت.
لتاخذ… pic.twitter.com/27DKJkZmIy— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) March 24, 2024
Through a video posted on social media, the spokesman assured that Al Jazeera is acting as a Hamas-friendly media outlet, an accusation that Israel has maintained since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza. He added that this latest Al Jazeera report was an attempt to distract attention from the "acts of rape, massacres and arson" carried out by "Hamas-ISIS" in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
In the international community's crosshairs
A senior Israeli military officer, General Amir Avivi, claimed in a radio statement collected by The Jerusalem Post, that Antony Blinken's State Department also accused the IDF of this type of abuse. Avivi claimed on the radio that during a meeting, the State Department's point man for the Israel-Palestine dossier accused the IDF of committing abuses against women on a "systematic" basis. Despite the Israeli military's account, this is not the U.S. State Department's official position.
The United Nations is also keeping this matter under surveillance. Two United Nations special rapporteurs maintain that these cases of sexual violence have existed since February. The special rapporteurs are independent individuals who are not part of the United Nations but are supported by the high commissioner for human rights to monitor vulnerable communities.
Together with others colleagues, I have expressed our alarm regarding accounts of rape by the Israeli occupation forces in February this year.
It is abhorrent that such reports of sexual violence continue unabated - not to mention that this is but one of multiple forms of… https://t.co/OnTkQRzYYs
— Reem Alsalem UNSR Violence Against Women and Girls (@UNSRVAW) March 24, 2024
Francesca Albanese and Reem Alsalem stated that they have observed an alarming increase in reports. However, the United Nations has yet to comment officially on these reports.
