On January 13, 2023, the anonymous Facebook account “Information Analytical Union” published a post claiming that, according to an article by the Israeli publication Haaretz, local law enforcement agencies did not find any evidence or eyewitnesses that confirmed the mass rape of prisoners by Hamas fighters on October 7. According to the author of the post, killing of children and slitting their throats is not confirmed either.
The disseminated information is false. In fact, evidence of Hamas’ crimes, including eyewitness accounts exists, and the Haaretz article states that most victims of sexual violence have been killed or captured by Hamas, or they are psychologically unable to talk about these horrific events. In addition, the article does not mention the killing of children, and even more so the absence of witnesses in this case.
The article by Haaretz, one of Israel’s oldest and most famous publications, talks about the fact that the investigators of the events of October 7 are indeed having some problems in finding concrete evidence. However, this does not mean that they did not find any evidence that terrorists sexually assaulted civilians. On the contrary, there are many testimonies proving this, including the testimonies of witnesses who saw the scenes of rape of women with their own eyes. For example, according to former hostage Chen Goldstein-Almog, several hostages confirmed to him that they were victims of rape. Many bodies showed signs of sexual abuse, many had serious injuries to the genitals, and the bodies were mutilated. However, despite all this, it is difficult for the investigation to determine the exact details, because due to the long clashes, there was a delay in retrieving the bodies and taking them for examination. As a result, in most cases, the names of the perpetrators have not been identified. Other important details are also unknown. It is for these reasons that the investigation is looking for surviving victims of the October 7 events to interview and obtain more or less complete information. This process is not so simple, because terrorists killed most of them on the spot and some of them were kidnapped. And those who survived captivity or were released from captivity as a result of negotiations, are still in such a difficult psychological state that they are unable to testify.
The article by Haaretz focuses on sexual crimes, and it also mentions that both the law enforcement agencies and the members of the help and rescue organization ZAKA (the members of which were among the first to arrive at the crime scenes and retrieve the bodies) saw and even captured many of the results of the atrocities committed by the terrorists. However, the article does not mention cases specifically involving children. Contrary to the claim of the authors of the post, according to Factcheck.org, an American fact-checking organization, Hamas killed at least 29 children during the October 7 attack.
Since the beginning of the war, disinformation has been regularly spread on social networks. “Myth Detector” verified a number of false claims around the topic.
About the Source
The anonymous Facebook account “Information Analytical Union” appeared in April 2022, and its first post can be traced back to April 12, 2022. According to the information on Facebook, the association was created in response to the one-sided discussion in the Georgian public space, and its main goal is to provide the population of Georgia with information that is of public interest, although it is not found in the mainstream media.
As of January 16, 2024, the “Information-Analytical Union” indicates the website infoanalitika.net on Facebook about us section, which is not functioning at the moment.
After the creation of the “Information-Analytical Union”, the majority of the posts published during the first few months were related to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The account repeated Kremlin narratives and claimed that Nazism in Ukraine was a big problem, encouraged by the West.
One of the posts related to Ukraine claims that Davit Arakhamia, the chairman of the ruling party of Ukraine said in an interview that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson forbade Ukraine to sign the peace negotiations with Russia. The mentioned manipulative information was verified by “Myth Detector”.
In addition to anti-Ukrainian claims, the “Information-Analytical Union” mainly publishes information of anti-Western and anti-Israel content and refers to the West as an imperialist entity. The “Information-Analytical Union” became particularly active after the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The Facebook account often conveys news on the mentioned topic unilaterally and manipulatively. Also, based on the content of the posts, it appears that the purpose of the account is to discredit the West and Western media.
The “Information-Analytical Union” spreads baseless accusations that the USA and the European Union are planning a coup in Georgia. In its posts, the account attacks Georgian non-governmental organizations and tries to create a negative perception of their activities.
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