Speaking as someone who takes in a lot of news media, I've found the coverage of the October 7 terror attacks and the resultant ongoing war in Gaza to be a battle of divisive narratives. While many have credibly covered the atrocities committed by Hamas both on October 7 and in the aftermath, notable news outlets have attempted to paint a different narrative. They constantly focus on everything "wrong" that Israel has done in response, as you might expect. But they also question the coverage of what really happened during the initial atrocities. Among these are some (not all) of the correspondents at both NewsNation and Rising. Some of them have bought into every story put out by Hamas about Israeli attacks on hospitals and such, but the worst are those who downplayed claims of sexual assaults and torture of women by Hamas fighters as "Israeli propaganda." Sadly, some international activists at the UN and other globalist organizations have played into the same theme. But now, a U.N. envoy tasked with focusing on sexual violence against women in the Middle East conflict has concluded that there are "reasonable grounds" to believe that Hamas attackers did all of these things. And more frighteningly, they are likely still doing them now to the remaining hostages.  (Associated Press)

The U.N. envoy focusing on sexual violence in conflict said in a new report Monday that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape, “sexualized torture,” and other cruel and inhumane treatment of women during its surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

There are also “reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing,” said Pramila Patten, who visited Israel and the West Bank from Jan. 29 to Feb. 14 with a nine-member team.

In the report, she said the team “found clear and convincing information” that some hostages have been subjected to the same forms of conflict-related sexual violence including rape and “sexualized torture.”

When even the United Nations is being dragged into admitting something this horrific, it's a safe bet that you're on the path to the truth. This is something I've speculated about repeatedly here. It's one of those things that we "know before we fully know." We saw too many reports from witnesses after October 7 and from survivors who underwent these horrors but escaped with their lives. The Hamas fighters and the supposed "Palestinian civilians" without uniforms who accompanied them were routinely not just killing and maiming Israelis, but they were raping and otherwise torturing women and children. 

This remains one of the reasons that I believe Hamas is unwilling to come to the table and offer additional concessions in exchange for a ceasefire. Israel is demanding the release of the rest of the hostages and the bodies of those who were killed in captivity. Hamas doesn't want to do that because they don't want their stories to be told or even to allow an examination of the bodies to reveal what was done to them.

I frequently remind people that "bad things happen in war." But this isn't simply conventional warfare, where more than enough bad things happen as it is. This is rape and torture as a weapon of war designed to terrify your opponents into submission. Beyond that, it's simply sadism for the sake of sadism by inhuman monsters. This is who Israel is supposed to be "negotiating" with in this conflict. 

It was Friedrich Nietzsche who once warned us, "Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster." Many horrible things happened in World War 2, but when the Japanese finally surrendered, they gave up and we began the process of reconstruction. Germany similarly stood down after Hitler went up in flames. Do not expect any such ending of the story from Hamas. These are not honorable people. They are monsters. Their actions speak far louder than their words. We should not be holding Bibi Netanyahu to such a strict set of expectations to treat them as if they were honorable opponents fighting for what they believe is a noble cause.