Al Jazeera's report on mass rape at Al Shifaa was debunked by an Al Jazeera employee

Al Jazeera Gets Caught Lying, But The Damage Has Already Been Done

Details
Jay Engelmayer
International

In a staggering twist that has reverberated around the globe, the intricate web of deceit woven by Hamas and echoed by Al Jazeera has been utterly dismantled, revealing a plot so audacious it would make fiction blush.

Initially, allegations that Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) engaged in monstrous acts against Palestinian women in a Gaza hospital sent shockwaves internationally, igniting a firestorm of outrage. Yet, the edifice of lies crumbled spectacularly when Al Jazeera, the Qatari beacon of controversy, quietly expunged all traces of the allegations from its platform, an act that screamed admission of fabrication louder than any retraction could.

Parallelly, an American State Department official's bold accusation against the IDF of "systematic" sexual abuse against Palestinian women was met with a swift and fierce rebuttal from IDF Brig.-Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi, who was visibly shaken by the allegations. This narrative clashed dramatically on the same day Al Jazeera pulled back its story, revealing a coordinated campaign of disinformation aimed at tarnishing Israel's image. It also revealed just how entrenched pro-Hamas activists are in the United States' bureaucratic machine. The official in question is a State Department official who holds the Israeli-Palestinian portfolio, meaning immediately, there is an anti-Israel bias in the very role meant to be held by a neutral arbitor.  

In an interview with radio station 103FM and translated by the Jerusalem Post, Avivi explained about his meeting : "It was a meeting that shook me. We sat there, talked about the situation, and suddenly she accused Israel of systematically sexually abusing Palestinian women." It was not clear if the allegations were the result of the initial Al Jazeera report, however these claims have been made over an and again by Palestinian activists in and out of the Middle East, often without proof. 

Avivi continued, "This is absolutely disconnected from reality. But without hesitation, she said, 'The UN presented evidence to the Israeli government.' I told her, 'Does it make sense that this phenomenon would exist and the media would never have reported on it?' I wanted there to be greater awareness... about what is really happening in the US State Department. In the end, I left there with the feeling that they simply don't talk to us and don't pass on any information."

Meanwhile, the confession from Al Jazeera's own ranks was nothing short of cinematic, as former director Yasser Abuhilalah disclosed through a tweet the findings of a Hamas investigation: the harrowing tale of sexual violence within Al-Shifaa Hospital's walls was a pure fabrication, designed to stir the pot of national fervor—a needless endeavor given the already high stakes and suffering in the region.

Adding to the chorus of retractions, Jihad Khelles, a pro-Hamas preacher, and Yasser Al-Zaatreh, a Palestinian Jordanian journalist, echoed sentiments that such stories, far from rallying support, actually inflicted harm on the Palestinian cause by spreading fear, despair, and disbelief among their own ranks. And the United Nations chimed in as well on the allegations, but never issued a retraction once Al Jazeera's lies were uncovered. Reem Alsalem, the UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said in a post on X (formerly Twitter)  that it is “abhorrent” that reports of rape by Israeli forces keep coming out without any consequences. It is noteworthy that Alsalem never mentioned outrage after it had been proven that mass rape and sexual assault had been committed against Israeli women and men by Hamas on October 7th. The accounts of that day are not just well documented, but proven via forensic (scientific) analysis as well as pictures taken by first responders. 

Last Friday, Goldie Ghamari, a Canadian Parliamentarian representing Ontario recalled her experience as Professor Halperin-Kaddari, a member of the Israeli volunteer group Zaka spoke to the Ontario Legislature on March 4th, and shared never before published images of women who had been sexually assaulted. Speaking to former CIA Officer and US legal titan, Bryan Cunningham on his popular X Space, Ghamari shared vivid descriptions of the images she saw, including women who had been penetrated with knives, and other foreign objects, inlcuding one woman who had so many foreign objects placed inside her womb that her lower stomach perforated, exposing her bowels.

As it relates to the false allegations against Israeli soldiers that Al Jazeera reported on, the narrative of fabrication reached its zenith with the viral spread of a purported eyewitness account from Jamila Al-Hessi, who spun a tale of horror that seemed to leap straight from a screenplay, alleging the rape and murder of women by IDF soldiers. The story, while compelling in its tragedy, was quickly unraveled as a complete fiction, not only undermining the credibility of the sources but also, unexpectedly, causing a mass hysteria within Gaza as residents suffered unwarranted fear during a time when they need as much security as possible.

In the end, the saga has laid bare the dangerous potency of disinformation, revealing the lengths to which certain factions will go to manipulate public opinion and international sentiment against Israel. The aftermath leaves a landscape of skepticism and the stark reminder of the need for vigilance in the face of attempts to manipulate the narrative for geopolitical ends.

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