In recent weeks, Israel has sought to reignite the most extreme and sensationalized claims about what happened on October 7, 2023—repeating lurid and often debunked stories of beheaded babies, mass rape, and atrocities with little or no forensic or verified evidence. This renewed propaganda offensive is not about truth or justice; it is about narrative control. It is about whitewashing a brutal occupation and decades of colonial violence while justifying the mass killing and starvation of Palestinians under the guise of Israeli “self-defense.”
A major part of this renewed push came with the release of a report titled A Quest for Justice: October 7th and Beyond by the Israeli DINA Project, partially funded by the British government. Promoted heavily in the Sunday Times and other establishment outlets, the report claims to be the most comprehensive account of sexual violence during the October 7 attacks. Yet, upon close inspection by journalists Ali Abunimah and Asa Winstanley of The Electronic Intifada, the report contains no new forensic evidence, no named victims, and recycles debunked atrocity stories with no substantiation.
The DINA Project’s authors are not independent experts but figures embedded in Israel’s military and judicial establishment. One is a former chief military prosecutor; another is a former judge in Israel’s occupation courts; the third is a Bar-Ilan University professor with ties to Israel’s security apparatus. Their goal appears not to be the pursuit of justice, but the suppression of dissent and the demonization of Palestinians through emotionally charged propaganda.
The report relies heavily on discredited witnesses, including Rami Davidian and ZAKA members, whose past testimonies have been proven fraudulent or wildly exaggerated. It references testimonies already debunked by forensic pathologists and the United Nations, which in March 2024 reported finding no forensic evidence of rape among the thousands of images and videos reviewed.
This latest effort to revive the October 7 rape hoax coincides with Israel’s deepening international isolation due to its ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza. As Abunimah and Winstanley noted, the rape claims serve as the most emotionally potent method of casting Israel as the victim while it carries out the destruction of Gaza. It projects Israel’s crimes onto its victims, reframing Palestinian resistance as a genocidal campaign, despite the lack of evidence.
This article offers an alternative. Not a counter-narrative driven by ideology or blind partisanship, but a factually grounded antidote to the fantasy, misinformation, and erasure that has defined much of the Western discourse since that day.
A Brutal Siege Long Before October 7
Gaza is not a battlefield—it is a prison. Since 2007, Israel has imposed a land, air, and sea blockade that has crippled every aspect of life in Gaza. The territory is home to over 2 million people, most of whom are refugees or descendants of refugees ethnically cleansed from their homes in 1948. For years, international agencies have described Gaza as “unlivable.”
Even before the events of October 7, the UN had warned that Gaza was on the brink of collapse. In February 2024, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other UN bodies declared that 1.1 million people were facing catastrophic food shortages. By June, famine was killing children and elderly people. UN experts described Gaza as being beyond the brink of collapse. This was not the result of a natural disaster, but the logical outcome of Israeli policy.
When Protest is Met with Bullets
The idea that Palestinians resorted to violence without cause erases years of nonviolent resistance. From 2018 to 2019, tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza participated in the Great March of Return. These were peaceful protests demanding the right of return and an end to the siege.
Israel responded with sniper fire. More than 200 people were killed, including children, journalists, medics, and the disabled. Tens of thousands were wounded. Many were deliberately shot in the legs, resulting in permanent disabilities. International observers were horrified. But nothing changed. No sanctions. No justice. No accountability.
So what were Palestinians supposed to do?
When peaceful protest is answered with death, when diplomacy is a dead end, and when international institutions fail to act, the question is not why violence erupted on October 7, but why it didn’t happen sooner.
What Actually Happened on October 7?
According to Israeli figures, approximately 1,200 people were killed that day. But even this number, and its composition, is highly contested. A significant portion were Israeli soldiers, reservists, and armed settlers. Under international law, off-duty combatants remain legitimate military targets.
The Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, described the operation as a strategic incursion into Israeli military bases and installations. Many of the deaths occurred during combat or at military sites. However, after the initial breach of the border, other armed groups and unaffiliated individuals entered, and some engaged in looting and violence. These acts, though reprehensible, were not centrally planned by Hamas.
Yet Israel and its allies immediately flattened the complexity of the event into a black-and-white story: savage terrorists vs. innocent civilians. Any questioning of this narrative was branded antisemitic or apologetic of terror.
The Hannibal Directive: When Israel Kills Its Own
One of the darkest, least reported aspects of October 7 is that Israeli forces likely killed their own civilians under the controversial Hannibal Directive—a military protocol authorizing lethal force to prevent hostages from being taken alive into Gaza.
A June 2024 UN report concluded that Israeli forces likely killed at least 14 of their own citizens using this directive. Israeli tank shelling and helicopter gunfire were deployed in populated areas to prevent captives from being taken. The Israeli government has refused to investigate, and the media has largely ignored this fact.
Manufactured Atrocity Tales
Perhaps the most shameless part of Israel’s narrative has been the use of fabricated or unverified horror stories to build global sympathy. Claims of beheaded babies, mass rapes, and children burned alive were repeated by world leaders and media outlets despite a complete lack of forensic evidence.
These stories have since been widely debunked. Israeli officials admitted months later that no evidence existed for many of the most disturbing claims. Yet there has been no accountability for these lies. No retractions. No apologies. These falsehoods served their purpose: they dehumanized Palestinians and justified genocide.
Meanwhile, those who pointed out inconsistencies—including journalists, academics, and UN officials—faced smears and threats. This is not just misinformation; it is weaponized propaganda.
Mowing the Lawn
The Israeli doctrine of “mowing the lawn” refers to routine, large-scale assaults on Gaza designed to degrade Palestinian resistance, not end it. These are not reactive measures; they are preemptive campaigns of mass violence.
Israel has launched five major assaults on Gaza since 2008, killing thousands of civilians. Each time, the world watches. Each time, the death toll mounts. Each time, the siege tightens. There is no strategic objective here beyond domination.
Starving a Nation
Even access to the sea is criminalized. Palestinian fishermen are routinely shot at for sailing more than a few nautical miles off the coast. Boats are sunk. Men are arrested. Fishing is one of the few remaining sources of income in Gaza, and even that is under attack.
As of mid-2024, nearly half a million Gazans face death by starvation. Aid is blocked. Borders are closed. Bakeries, water plants, hospitals—all targeted by Israeli bombs. This is not collateral damage. It is siege warfare.
The Real Story
To understand October 7, one must understand what came before: the blockade, the massacres, the assassinations, the apartheid, the dispossession, and the years of silenced cries for justice.
Israel’s attempt to resurrect debunked horror stories today is not a bid for justice but a cover-up. It is meant to distract from the thousands killed in Gaza since, from the starvation of children, and from the growing global outrage at what many legal scholars are now calling genocide.
If there is to be justice, truth must come first. Not the truth of propaganda or political convenience, but the historical and legal truth of colonial occupation, ethnic cleansing, and collective punishment. That is what October 7 was born from.