Yasin Güleç

BOMBSHELL: Israel claim of “independent” report on October 7 sexual violence released today debunked The body releasing it is a one-woman NGO whose principal was called unreliable by Israel’s own government officials in 2024. Here’s what the press coverage is leaving out. The Civil Commission on October 7th Crimes by Hamas Against Women and Children released “Silenced No More” on May 12, citing 430 testimonies, 1,800 hours of video, and 13 patterns of sexual and gender-based violence. The AP noted the findings could not be independently verified. In March 2024, Ynet (Yedioth Ahronoth) ran an exposé citing Israeli government officials who disassociated themselves from Cochav Elkayam-Levy, calling her research inaccurate. Channel 13’s Raviv Drucker reported the commission was structurally a one-person operation: “The commission is her. And she is the commission.” The same officials cited her dissemination of the debunked “pregnant woman whose belly was sliced” story — a claim that originated with ZAKA volunteer Yossi Landau, was confirmed false by the UN, and that ZAKA’s own spokesperson asked him to stop repeating. She had sought an $8 million budget, $1.5 million of it for “management and administration.” Meanwhile Israel has actively obstructed the actual UN investigative mechanism. Haaretz reported in January 2025 that Israel rejected Special Representative Pramila Patten’s request to investigate, because Patten conditioned access on also being allowed to examine sexual violence allegations against Palestinians in Israeli detention. The Israeli Women’s Lobby was warned by Patten’s team that the obstruction could result in Israel being placed on the UN blacklist for conflict-related sexual violence while Hamas stays off it. Five Israeli soldiers have been indicted in the Sde Teiman case where a Palestinian detainee was raped with a baton. The UN’s own 2024 findings, often cited as vindication, are narrower than the framing suggests. Patten found “reasonable grounds” to believe rape occurred — explicitly not a finding of systematic use as a tool of war. She said: “I have not found anything like that” when asked about Israeli government claims of hundreds or thousands of cases. The Be’eri pregnant-woman account was labeled unfounded. The NYT’s “Screams Without Words” was scrutinized by The Intercept, criticized by 50+ journalism professors, and in October 2025 over 300 NYT contributors boycotted demanding retraction. Physicians for Human Rights Israel issued a clarification regretting inclusion of testimonies later “disputed or deemed unverifiable.” UN Rapporteur Reem Alsalem said no independent mechanism has established systematic use. So what is “Silenced No More”? It’s the same evidentiary pipeline — debunked early claims, an NGO Israeli officials themselves rejected, pattern inference replacing forensics — repackaged after Israel blocked the only mechanism that could verify it independently. That’s not transparency. That’s laundering.