The mother of a woman whose body was paraded through the streets by Hamas has pleaded for help finding her daughter.
A video showing German tattoo artist Shani Louk on the back of a pickup truck circulated on social media after the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
Louk had been attending an outdoor “Festival for Peace” party near Kibbutz Urim when the area was targeted. First, rockets were launched, then gunmen and appeared and shot into the crowd, CNN reported. Party attendees told the outlet people immediately started to flee, passing dead bodies on the ground as they tried to escape the massacre.
The attack and resulting conflict has left hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians dead, with Israel’s prime minister declaring war.
A video of a young woman with dreadlocks on the back of a pickup truck and surrounded by Hamas soldiers started circulating on social media shortly after the attack. In it, she appears stripped to her underwear, and her legs are bent at unnatural angles, while one soldier grabs her hair. People are also seen spitting on her body.
It’s possible to oppose Hamas and the Israeli government at the same time. Hamas being fundamentalist terrorists doesn’t retroactively justify the Israeli government forcing millions of people into ghettos without access to clean water and regularly subjecting them to state violence. Or the ongoing settlement program, where Palestinian towns are forcibly evacuated and their property/homes stolen and given to Israeli settlers.
Two things can Both be bad at once, especially since the only reason Hamas exists is because of the desperation of Palestinians caused by Israeli state policy. Netanyahu’s government even gave them money at one point, because Hamas is good for his political goals. Hamas prevents a more democratic, progressive resistance to the occupation from forming, which makes it easier for Netanyahu’s government to justify their ongoing genocide/ethnic cleansing.