UK FUNDED ISRAELI REPORT ON ALLEGED SEXUAL VIOLENCE USED TO JUSTIFY GAZA GENOCIDE

Wed 04 March 2026:

The UK government awarded £90,000 ($114,000) in public funds to an Israeli research initiative whose findings around alleged sexual violence on 7 October were later used to mobilise support for the Gaza genocide, according to reporting by Novara Media.

Documents released following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request show that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) funded 75 per cent of a four-month project led by The Dinah Project, a body based at Bar-Ilan University.

The funding application stated that the report aimed to establish the “systematic and premeditated nature” of sexual violence committed on 7 October.

The report, published in July 2025 and titled A Quest for Justice: October 7 and Beyond, concluded that sexual violence on 7 October was “widespread and systematic” and that it was deployed as a “weapon of war”.

Israeli officials later referenced the report in public forums. During a discussion in the Knesset, an official from Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate described it as “a significant public diplomacy tool for us”, adding that the campaign surrounding it “was disseminated by all the means we have as a state”.

__________________________________________________________________________

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22

__________________________________________________________________________

No independent finding of systematic rape

However, no independent international investigation has concluded that rape was used systematically or as a weapon of war on 7 October.

An investigation by Amnesty International published in December 2025 found that sexual assault may have occurred during the attacks but reported no evidence that Hamas or other Palestinian armed groups ordered fighters to commit acts of sexual violence.

UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls Reem Alsalem later stated that no independent human rights mechanism had established that sexual or gender-based violence was committed as a systematic tool of war or genocide.

Earlier claims challenged

Middle East Monitor published an investigation titled “Israel has manufactured an industrial-scale version of Jim Crow rape hoaxes”, which examined the early wave of media reporting on alleged mass rape on 7 October.

That report documented how several widely circulated claims relied on anonymous sources, unverified testimony and statements later retracted or amended. It reported an absence of forensic evidence supporting assertions of mass rape and argued that the narrative had been amplified before independent verification had taken place.

The MEMO report drew parallels with historical cases in which unproven allegations of sexual violence were used to mobilise public support for collective punishment.

While allegations of sexual violence remain under investigation, no authoritative body has concluded that rape was used in a systematic or policy-driven manner.

Double standards in funding

The UK government has not funded comparable investigations into documented allegations of sexual and gender-based violence committed against Palestinians.

In March 2025, the UN’s independent commission of inquiry on Palestine and Israel reported that Israeli forces had committed acts of sexual, reproductive and gender-based violence during the war on Gaza, including sexual humiliation and abuse of detainees, as well as the destruction of reproductive health infrastructure.

The UK has not formally responded to that report.

In correspondence with Novara Media, the FCDO said it condemns sexual violence wherever it occurs. It declined to provide an on-the-record comment regarding its funding decision.

-MEMO

__________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22