In a post we published last week, we observed that a column by Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik (In Gaza, there’s a war on women. Will the west really ignore it because they’re ‘not like us’?) expressed her outrage at war crimes committed against women in the conflict – but not all women.
So extreme is her contempt for Israel, we argued, that she devoted a 1,000 word column to the suffering of women during the war and focused entirely on Palestinian women in Gaza, while basically ignoring savage sexual violence against Israeli women and girls on Oct. 7 – as well as the violence likely perpetrated against female hostages still being held – which was even reported (belatedly) at her own outlet.
Her piece did include five words mentioning sexual violence by Hamas, but the context was to accuse pro-Israelis of weaponising such “reported” crimes to “void sympathy for those in Gaza”.
Here is the sentence in question:
In addition to reports of sexual violence during Hamas’s attack, these are seen as factors that should void sympathy for those in Gaza and render them suspect and aligned with Hamas, with Israel as the party that shares liberal progressive values
So, despite overwhelming evidence that Hamas terrorists engaged in cruel sexual violence, Malik described the savagery as merely “reports’, and, as you can see, couldn’t even bring herself say it was Israeli women who were victims of the “reported” rape and violence.
Her latest column (“Israel’s assault on Gaza is exposing the holes in everything liberal politicians claim to believe”, Feb. 12) goes a step further in expressing doubt over the veracity of Hamas’s use of rape as a weapon.
Here are the relevant sentences:
The mainstream political consensus on Israel and Palestine long held that Israel’s actions ought to be staunchly supported, and that the plight of Palestinians is either paralysingly complex or – at worst – the fault of their own terrorists. That consensus is now being challenged, not only by faceless protesters, but from within the bastions of liberal media. In recent weeks, both CNN and the New York Times have been reportedly riven with internal discord after some employees deemed their coverage too credulous and sympathetic to Israel’s actions.
First, note how Malik is incensed that people in the West who argue that proscribed Palestinian terror groups are signicantly responsible for the suffering in Gaza – representing another example of what Shany Mor argues are the two nearly theological precepts of the anti-Zionist crowd: “that Israel is evil, and that no Palestinian action is ever connected to any Palestinian outcome”.
But, more relevant is the second sentence we highlighted, which links to one article in the Intercept about anti-Israel staffers at the NY Times who were critical of the outlet’s detailed and (WARNING) extremely graphic in-depth article (based on over 150 interviews) titled “Screams without words: How Hamas weaponized sexual violence on Oct. 7“. The Intercept reports that the objections of some pro-Palestinian staffers resulted in a NY Times podcast based on the article being nixed.
Malik, by approvingly noting that the political consensus about Palestinian terrorist malevolence and destructiveness is being “challenged” by some within the NY Times newsroom, who viewed their Hamas rape story too “credulous”, appears to be among those who view the charges of misogynistic brutality against Israeli women as either unproven or, worse, an example of Israeli propaganda.
As with the NY Times article, we want to warn you that the information presented in these links are graphic and extraordinarily disturbing. But, to get a sense of the level of animosity towards Israel that the Guardian columnist appears to possess, it’s important to understand the strength of the evidence demonstrating Hamas’s sexual barbarism which some of her fellow journalists are “challenging”.
Malik’s soft Oct. 7 rape denial is another example how, in the aftermath of the worst antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust, the anti-Zionist left has responded by turning the massacre into “non-event”, not only avoiding any serious self-reflection about their movement, but doubling down on their first principles concerning Israel’s ‘intrinsic villainy’.
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Editor’s note: We reached out to Ms. Malik asking for a comment
If people are indoctrinated from birth they will only believe what they have been taught to believe. It is called ‘in denial’ unfortunately lots of journalists and news reporters joined that club and cannot see beyond their noses and will admit black is white if it benefits Islam and the creation of a caliphate #defundthebbc