Two top Democratic congressmen have called out President Biden for omitting mention of rapes committed by Hamas terrorists from a recent White House fact sheet on international sexual violence.
Jewish Reps. Adam Schiff of California and Dan Goldman of New York wrote in a letter Wednesday that they wanted “to express our deepest concern” about the fact that the unspeakable Hamas sexual violence had been left off the June 17 fact sheet on the “Biden-Harris Administration’s Actions to Address Conflict-Related Sexual Violence.”
“Given the evidence of these horrific incidents, the brutal and vicious sexual violence committed by Hamas must not be omitted from the White House’s Fact Sheet,” the pols said.
“The Administration and Congress must never lose sight of Hamas’ sexual violence against Israel or give Hamas special dispensation in seeking accountability for its actions,” their letter said.
The congressmen noted that the fact sheet touted how the Biden administration has implemented “sanctions based on atrocities against women in Ukraine, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Iraq, South Sudan, Sudan, and Syria” — but failed to mention Israel.
“Clearly missing from this list of victims are the women who experienced sexual violence on October 7, 2023, as a result of the brutal attack by Hamas against Israel,” Goldman and Schiff said.
The Biden administration has imposed sanctions against people on the Conflict-Related Sexual Violence list — including some sick perpetrators well after the Hamas attack — but no Hamas terrorists have been included, which the congressmen said should be rectified.
While declining to impose sanctions on the terrorists, Biden slapped them on four Israeli settlers in February who were accused of attacking and threatening Palestinians in the West Bank.
The pair of lawmakers cited “substantial evidence” of terrorists raping Israeli women during the attack — including a United Nations report from the Office of the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
That report prompted “Squad” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) — who lost his Democratic primary race on Tuesday to pro-Israel candidate George Latimer — to apologize for initially denying the rapes as “propaganda.”
Fellow “Squad” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (R-Mich.) in February was the only member of the US House of Representatives who declined to vote for a resolution condemning the rape and sexual violence that Hamas leaders ordered members of the terror group to carry out.
The House resolution also faulted the United Nations for being “slow to condemn” the “brutal actions” of the jihadists.
During the June announcement of the fact sheet, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke out about the Hamas rapes and mentioned the documentary “Screams Before Silence,” recounting how women’s bodies were “found naked from the waist down, hands tied behind their back and shot in the head” at the site of the Nova music festival in Re’im, Israel.
Other eyewitness testimonies, photographic evidence and forensic medical units have corroborated the horrific details — including instances of genital mutilation and broken pelvises.
Harris had also referenced a meeting with an Israeli woman who was taken hostage by Hamas after the attack and subject to sexual violence during her captivity in Gaza.
“These testimonies, I fear, will only increase as more hostages are released. We cannot look away, and we will not be silent,” she said. “My heart breaks for all these survivors and their families and for all the pain and suffering over the past eight months in Israel and in Gaza.”
Biden, 81, unequivocally condemned the “appalling and unforgiveable” acts of Hamas in a December reception to celebrate Hanukkah, citing the “rape, sexual violence, and terrorism and torture of Israeli women and girls.”
That same month, senior Biden administration officials met with Israel’s Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy, the chair of Israel’s Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes by Hamas Against Women and Children.
The president has faced opposition from thousands of Muslim and Arab American voters in critical swing states over his support for Israel during its more than eight-month war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The grassroots campaigns have called for primary voters to “abandon Biden” and mark their ballots as “uncommitted” — highlighting the stakes of the rift in the Democratic Party over the issue.
But Biden has also faced backlash from Jewish American voters for undermining Israel’s government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their attempts to eliminate Hamas — including with a pause placed on some US weapons shipments.
Public polling, even in deep blue states such as New York, shows Jewish voters are demonstrating a much higher degree of support for former President Donald Trump than in the 2020 election.
The White House declined to comment.
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