ARUN GUPTA, arun.indypendent@gmail.com, @arunindy
The latest piece by investigative reporter Gupta was just published by YES Magazine: “Claims of Mass Rape by Hamas Unravel Upon Investigation.” His piece “American Media Keep Citing Zaka — Though Its October 7 Atrocity Stories Are Discredited in Israel” was published last month by The Intercept.

Gupta said today: “For more than three months the media and Israeli civil organizations have recycled the same allegations of sexual violence to claim Hamas committed mass rape on Oct. 7. They have treated unsubstantiated allegations of rape as solid proof. But there is zero forensic evidence, zero photo evidence, and no survivor testimony. These dodgy rape claims are being explicitly used by Israel as cover for its total war on Palestinians.

“The Israeli military sent in untrained Zaka volunteers into massacre sites instead of soldiers specially trained to collect human remains and preserve evidence. Once inside, Zaka reportedly turned the sites into a war room for donations, used corpses as fundraising props, and spread accounts of atrocities that never happened. In exchange, the Israeli government got Zaka volunteers to spread fake atrocity stories throughout the media, giving Israel legitimacy to carry out total war against Palestinians.”

For his investigative report published Wednesday by YES Magazine, Gupta interviewed the author of Physician for Human Rights Israel paper widely cited as proof of rape on Oct. 7. In reality, Gupta states, “Hadas Ziv acknowledged numerous problems with the PHRI paper. She admitted many sources had credibility problems, she did not review all available evidence, she was unaware sources had fabricated atrocity stories, and conceded there could be other explanations for instances of sexual violence that she cited. …

“In addition, the PHRI, the controversial New York Times Dec. 28 investigation on Oct. 7 sexual violence, and 10 other media investigations rely on 12 individuals for nearly all claims of rape. Of those 12 individuals, eight fabricated other Oct. 7 atrocities, and all but one are connected to Israeli military and police. Even if you consider all claims credible, they are unsubstantiated claims: There is no photo evidence, no forensic evidence, and no survivor testimony. …

“What’s even more disturbing than media abandoning basic evidentiary standards, these dodgy claims have buried actual gender-based and sexual violence that Israel is committing against Palestinian women and girls, as documented by U.N. experts and women’s groups. The media have the ability to correct their utterly biased reporting, but it is an open question if they are willing to challenge powerful forces to do so.”