These concerns warrant fair-minded journalistic scrutiny by The Toronto Star, which is presently missing from the opinion piece, as it gives Denise Handlarski a platform to discuss the alleged rapes committed by Hamas militants on October 7 despite the serious disputes and credibility concerns surrounding several of the report’s claims.
To the Toronto Star editorial team,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Jusitce and Peace in the Middle East (www.cjpme.org) regarding the opinion piece published on May 21, 2026 titled: “Sexual violence by Israel and Hamas is stomach-churning. So too is the reaction to it.”
Denise Handlarski references the 300-page report published last week by the Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes by Hamas Against Women and Children, an Israeli non-profit founded in 2023. The report, titled: “Silenced No More Sexual Terror Unveiled: The Untold Atrocities of October 7 and Against Hostages in Captivity” claims to document evidence gathered through more than 430 interviews conducted over the past two years with alleged survivors, witnesses, returned hostages, and family members, alleging that Hamas militants perpetrated systematic, widespread, and calculated sexual and gender-based violence during the October 7, 2023 attacks.
However, there are serious concerns regarding the evidence relied upon in the report, as well as controversy surrounding the founder of the non-profit organization, Cochav Elkayam-Levy, raising significant questions about the credibility of the commission’s findings.
These concerns warrant fair-minded journalistic scrutiny by The Toronto Star, which is presently missing from the opinion piece, as it gives Denise Handlarski a platform to discuss the alleged rapes committed by Hamas militants on October 7 despite the serious disputes and credibility concerns surrounding several of the report’s claims.
As noted by the Associated Press, the founder of the Commission, Cochav Elkayam-Levy, has faced public credibility concerns from multiple sources. According to reporting by Ynet, the media outlet affiliated with Israel’s mass-circulation newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, sources within the Israeli government reportedly distanced themselves from her work on the basis that her research was not accurate. The source specifically cited Elkayam-Levy’s role in spreading the unsubstantiated claim that Palestinian fighters had “sliced the belly of a pregnant woman,” an unfounded allegation that was later proven to be false despite having already circulated widely in the media.
Furthermore, Elkayam-Levy circulated images of a dead Kurdish female fighter as purported evidence of the sexual violence committed by Hamas militants on October 7.
The report cited by Handlarski also references testimonies published in The New York Times’ December 28, 2023 article, “Screams Without Words: How Hamas Weaponized Sexual Violence on October 7,” by Jeffrey Gettleman, Anat Schwartz, and Adam Sella. The whole report is based on the alleged rape of an Israeli woman, Gal Abdush, who was killed on October 7. Abdush’s family, however, rejected this claim. Abdush’s family even said that they had no knowledge that NYT wanted to use Gal’s story to push a rape narrative.
The report also references interviews with Shari Mendes and members of ZAKA, both of whom helped circulate the widely publicized “beheaded babies” allegation, a claim that was debunked and never substantiated with evidence despite being in almost every single mainstream media headline. A White House spokesperson clarified that neither U.S. officials nor President Biden had independently seen photographs or verified the claim at the time. Furthermore, Al Jazeera’s own Investigative Unit (I-Unit) concluded that no babies were present in the Kibbutz Be’eri, and that the 12 individuals inside were most likely killed by the Israeli forces as they employed the Hannibal directive on October 7, as reported by Haartez, i.e. Israel’s use of overwhelming lethal force even if it meant killing their own people.
The report also references Sheryl Sandberg’s Screams Before Silence, a documentary promoted as “a film on the sexual violence committed by Hamas” during the events of October 7, 2023.
However, up until now, Israeli authorities have not publicly presented evidence of firsthand witness testimonies relating to allegations of rape by Hamas militants. In fact, in 2025, an Israeli prosecutor reportedly acknowledged that there was still no complainants in alleged cases of rape committed by Palestinians during the events of October 7, 2023.
The UN released a report containing the findings of Special Representative Ms. Pramila Patten from January 29, 2024, until February 14, 2024. The mission team relied primarily on sources close to the Israeli government and faced challenges in collecting any evidence related to alleged crimes committed on October 7. The report states that it did not meet with any victim or survivor of the alleged sexual violence that occurred on October 7, specifying that “a more comprehensive assessment of the occurrence of conflict-related sexual violence in the context of the 7 October attacks would require a fully-fledged investigation by competent bodies with adequate time and capacity.”
In other words, the conclusions were based largely on circumstantial information rather than on independently verified testimonies. Any allegation of rape or sexual violence should be treated with the utmost seriousness and examined through credible, independently verifiable evidence. However, as it stands, Israeli authorities have not publicly presented evidence sufficient to substantiate many of its unfounded claims.
Neither the UN Commission of Inquiry — the UN’s highest investigative body — nor subsequent investigations by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International were able to verify specific instances of rape on October 7 by Hamas militants.
To sum, many of the report’s claims have been disputed, and that the founder herself has faced credibility concerns, including criticism from Israeli officials over the circulation of false and misleading information.
However, in platforming Handlarski’s opinion piece, which takes allegations of rape on October 7 at face value without pushback, the Toronto Star overlooks the serious credibility concerns surrounding the report and its founder. At minimum, readers should have been informed that key aspects of the report remain disputed and that the organization behind it has faced criticism over the circulation of false and misleading information.
Granted that opinion writing allows for interpretation and argumentation of facts, it must still adhere to fundamental journalistic standards of accuracy, fairness, and responsible framing expected of Canadian news outlets. In light of these concerns, I look forward to hearing your response.
Regards,
Media Analyst
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East