Day: December 5, 2023

Barbaric Hamas terrorists had “a thing with sexual organs’’ and targeted the genitalia of male and female victims during their Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to harrowing United Nations testimony Monday.

Some of the fiends’ unspeakable acts involved a murdered woman found with “nails and different objects in her female organs” and a gang-rape victim who had one of her breasts cut off — with her attackers then playing with it in the road, Israel said.

There were “horrific things I saw with my own eyes and I felt with my own hands,” said stricken Simcha Greinman, a volunteer who helped collect the remains of the slaughtered victims, according to the New York Times.

The Jewish state accused the UN during the special session of moving too slowly to address reports that the terror group unleashed sexual violence as a weapon of war in its attack, NBC News reported.

“This was premeditated. This was planned. This was instructed,” Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said at the session, held at the UN’s Manhattan headquarters, according to All Israel News.

Demonstrators hold posters reading “UN Women, your silence is loud” along with a red paint-stained sheet reading “UNbelievable” during a rally in London. AFP via Getty Images

“Sadly, the very international bodies that are supposedly the defenders of all women showed that when it comes to Israelis, indifference is acceptable,” he said.

“To these organizations, Israeli women are not women, the rape of Israelis is not an act of rape. Their silence has been deafening,” he added, referring to UN groups and the international community.

About 800 people, including Jewish groups and diplomats from dozens of countries, attended the presentation, which laid out the evidence of large-scale sexual violence. 

A female police officer said in video testimony played at the event that during the sneak attack, “shooting was targeted at sexual organs,” adding, “We saw that a lot,” All Israel reported.

“The women we received, they were civilian. … We mainly saw either breast amputations or gunshots just to the breast, simply shooting from one side of the breast to the other,” another female cop said.

Gilad Erdan, Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations, lashed out against the world body’s slow response to reports about sexual violence by Hamas. AFP via Getty Images

“As for men, they were also shot in their genitalia,” she added.

One of the officers said, “They had a thing with sexual organs — both in women and in men, either amputation or targeted shooting [to that part of the body],” the Messenger reported.

Shari Mendes, a member of an Israel Defense Forces reserve unit in charge of identifying and preparing the bodies of female soldiers for burial, also testified that she saw “systematic genital mutilation,” according to All Israel.  

The personal belongings of festival-goers are seen at the site of the attack on the Nova Festival by Hamas terrorists. REUTERS

One female survivor of the attack on a musical festival where hundreds of people were massacred described how a woman was raped during the atrocity.

“I remember how [one attacker] shifted her position, then passed her on to another person,” she recalled in the video testimony.

“She was alive. … She was standing. … She was bleeding from her back. … She had a long hair, and he was pulling it. … She wasn’t dressed. … He cut her breast. He threw it on the road, and they played with it,” the woman recounted in the gruesome testimony.

Protesters gathered at the offices of the United Nations Women late last month. Getty Images

Israeli national police Superintendent Yael Richert, who presented the sickening accounts, said, “Everything was an apocalypse of corpses — girls without any clothes on, without tops, without underwear, people cut in half, butchered, some were beheaded.”

It was only recently that UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who had condemned the Hamas attack, said, “There are also numerous accounts of sexual violence during the attacks that must be vigorously investigated and prosecuted,” NBC News reported.

“Gender-based violence must be condemned. Anytime. Anywhere,” Guterres wrote last week.

Erdan, the Israeli ambassador, slammed Guterres for allegedly dragging his feet on the condemnation.

“Two months after the massacre and the rapes, the UN remembered to propose an investigation? And by an antisemitic body? The only investigation that should take place is into the shocking silence and indifference of UN Women in the face of the rape and crimes of sexual violence committed against Israeli women,” he said, according to All Israel, referring to the United Nations agency that says its mission is gender equality.

The group Bring Them Home Now held a protest Nov. 27 to observe International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Getty Images

Erdan said he sent two letters about the rapes by the terrorists, appended with images of victims’ bodies, to Sima Sami Bahous, executive director of UN Women, according to the Times.

“I got no response whatsoever, not even, ‘We received your letter,’” Erdan complained.

US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) spoke about the “raw footage” she had been shown that “takes your breath away with the sheer level of evil it depicts.

“When I saw the list of women’s rights organizations that said nothing, I nearly choked. Where is the solidarity for women in this country and in this world to stand up for our mothers, our sisters and our daughters?” she said.

“The United Nations must denounce Hamas as a terrorist organization that uses rape as a weapon of war. The United Nations must live up to its purpose of upholding the principles of international law, and the United Nations must condemn these evil crimes against humanity,” Gillibrand added.

Former Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg also addressed the UN session, where she stated that “rape should never be used as an act of war” and that “silence is complicity” in the face of atrocities.

“It threatens to undo decades of progress, to undo an entire movement. The world has to decide who to believe, do we believe the Hamas spokesperson … or do we believe the women?” she said.

Israeli soldiers inspect the burned cars of Israeli music festival revelers at the site of the Oct. 7 attack. REUTERS

About 150 activists, including those from Jewish women’s groups, also marched in front of the UN headquarters and accused it of failing to act over the abuse of Israeli women.

Cochav Elkayam Levy of the Davis Institute for International Relations at Hebrew University of Jerusalem said the “deafening silence” over reports of sexual violence raises the question of whether Israeli women are protected by international law.

“When the institutions that are globally mandated to protect women stay silent — not only international law loses meaning, humanity’s shared values lose meaning,” said Levy, a law professor and founder of a commission on Hamas crimes against women and children, according to NBC News.

In a statement Monday, UN Women condemned “the abhorrent attacks by Hamas against Israel” and said it had been “closely following reports of brutal acts of gender-based violence against women in Israel since they first came to light.

“We believe a full investigation is essential, so that perpetrators at all sides can be held accountable and justice can be served,” the agency added.

The Biden administration alerted Congress Monday that funding to assist Ukraine in its war with Russia will run out by the end of this year as negotiators reach an impasse over future military and humanitarian aid — despite recently published research showing around 90% of the money spent never leaves US shores.

A Nov. 29 report by the American Enterprise Institute found that approximately $60 billion of the $68 billion in military and other assistance approved by Congress since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, has stayed in the United States to build new weapons for US forces, replacing older equipment sent to assist Kyiv.

Those weapons and other materiel, AEI found, are being manufactured in states like Florida, Ohio, and Missouri — where lawmakers like Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) have either expressed skepticism about or outright opposed further spending on Ukraine.

Congress has hit an impasse amid negotiations to pass further US military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine and to replenish domestic stockpiles. AP

NY Post composite

That political reality was not lost on White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, who made clear in a Monday letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) that both staunch Republican and politically tenuous swing states stood to benefit from further largesse.

“While we cannot predict exactly which US companies will be awarded new contracts,” she wrote, “we do know the funding will be used to acquire advanced capabilities to defend against attacks on civilians in Israel and Ukraine—for example, air defense systems built in Alabama, Texas, and Georgia and vital subcomponents sourced from nearly all 50 states.

“We will modernize vital munitions and equipment like Javelins made in Alabama; Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) made in West Virginia, Arkansas and Texas; tactical vehicles made in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana; and 155mm artillery shells made in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Iowa and many other states.”

President Biden in October proposed the $105 billion package, which would provide funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but Republicans said its border security provisions were weak. AP

In all, Young wrote, roughly half of the proposed spending package — more than $50 billion — will be sent to America’s defense industrial base, supporting investments in manufacturing across 35 states.

With four weeks left in 2023, senior White House officials are stressing the importance of renewing funding for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops as the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion nears in February.

Stay on top of news out of the Israel-Hamas war and the global surge in antisemitism with The Post’s Israel War Update, delivered right to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

On Monday, Young warned Johnson that Congress’ approach to President Biden’s $105 billion supplemental request would determine whether the US would “fight for freedom across the globe or … ignore the lessons we have learned from history and let [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and autocracy prevail.”

With four weeks left of 2024, senior Biden administration officials are stressing the importance of renewing funding for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops next year. AP

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) have agreed that further military assistance for Kyiv’s war effort is needed. REUTERS

“I want to be clear: without congressional action, by the end of the year we will run out of resources to procure more weapons and equipment for Ukraine and to provide equipment from US military stocks,” she added. “There is no magical pot of funding available to meet this moment. We are out of money—and nearly out of time.”

Young’s letter indicated that that $67 billion, or 60% of the already appropriated funds, had “bolstered” US defense and weapons stockpiles, while another $27.2 billion, or 24%, assisted Ukraine’s economy and security in response to Russian attacks on exports.

The current aid system represents a win-win for both the US and Ukraine, senior defense officials tell The Post, as Kyiv swiftly gets the weapons it needs and Washington stocks up on the latest versions of weaponry in preparation for future conflict.

The letter notes that $67 billion, or 60%, of the already appropriated funds “bolstered” US defense and weapons stockpiles, whereas $27.2 billion, or 24%, assisted Ukraine’s economy and security. AFP via Getty Images

Another $2.3 billion in emergency funding from the State Department and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has supported humanitarian issues. REUTERS

Currently, just 3% of the total funds received by the Pentagon are still available. Nearly all of the $2.3 billion in emergency monies given to the State Department and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) — including $500 million specifically for Ukrainian refugees –has also been used.

President Biden in October proposed the package to provide assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but congressional Republicans have insisted on including provisions to bolster US border security, over Democratic objections.

“Over 10,200 people illegally crossed the border just yesterday, one of the highest days in history and absolutely unprecedented for December,” Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a chief GOP negotiator on the legislation, said on X Sunday morning.

The last tranche of funding “supported needs of vulnerable populations around the world who have been made victims by Putin’s use of food as a weapon,” according to Young. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/AFP via Getty Images

“We continue to work to find a solution that will protect our national security, stop the human trafficking and prevent the cartels from exploiting the obvious loopholes in our law. That is the goal & we will continue to work until we get it right.”

Johnson said in a Monday statement that the Biden administration had thus far “failed to substantively address any of my conference’s legitimate concerns about the lack of a clear strategy in Ukraine, a path to resolving the conflict, or a plan for adequately ensuring accountability for aid provided by American taxpayers.”

“Meanwhile, the Administration is continually ignoring the catastrophe at our own border,” he also said. “House Republicans have resolved that any national security supplemental package must begin with our own border. We believe both issues can be agreed upon if Senate Democrats and the White House will negotiate reasonably.”

Johnson said the Biden administration had thus far “failed to substantively address any of my conference’s legitimate concerns about the lack of a clear strategy in Ukraine, a path to resolving the conflict, or a plan for adequately ensuring accountability for aid provided by American taxpayers.” AFP via Getty Images

The House speaker separately passed $14.3 billion last month in military assistance to support Israel’s war effort against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, but the bill has yet to be picked up in the Senate.

The $61.4 billion the White House requested for Ukrainian aid was “not some pie-in-the-sky wish list,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby stressed to reporters Friday, but rather a “dollar figure derived from a informed consultation with our Ukrainian partners about what they need, and we need that assistance immediately so that we can provide them assistance in an interrupted way.”

The Pentagon last month began cutting back its spending on Ukraine, reducing both the pace and amounts in the aid packages.

The House speaker separately passed $14.3 billion in Israel military assistance to support the Jewish state’s war effort against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, which hasn’t advanced in the Senate. AFP via Getty Images

“You’ve already seen the security packages getting smaller in the last month or so because again, we’re running out of runway and we’re running out of checks in the checkbook,” Kirby said last week. “We’ve got to be able to keep the aid going.”

The administration assesses that continued funding is critical to defeating Russia, as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last month told Congress that “if the US does not continue to support Ukraine, they will not succeed.”

“If we don’t get that support from Congress, the message it’s going to send around the world about how much Ukraine matters – and how much the United States and our leadership can deliver for our partners around the world – is going to be loud and clear and deeply unfortunate,” Kirby said.

“I can’t see anybody in this country, no matter who you vote for, no matter what party you represent, that can sit back at night and think that that’s a good thing to do, to let Putin think you can just get away with this … because we aren’t willing to come together and support a partner who is literally fighting for their lives.”

Four of the gold bars Sen. Bob Menendez stashed at his home were previously stolen from the businessman accused of bribing the New Jersey Democrat, according to a report. 

The serial numbers on some of the gold found by the FBI during a June 2022 raid of Menendez’s Englewood Cliffs, NJ, home match identifiers that Fred Daibes reported to police after a 2013 armed robbery, according to NBC News. 

Robbers made off with $500,000 in cash and 22 gold bars from Daibes’ Edgewater, NJ, home during the 2013 heist, the outlet reports.

Police later nabbed four suspects and recovered the stolen gold. 

The matching serial numbers indicate that authorities have now directly linked at least some of the gold found in Menendez’s home to Daibes, a New Jersey real estate developer and Menendez fundraiser.

Daibes has been accused of bribing the senator for a series of favors, including help in disrupting a federal prosecution against him. 

Menendez was hit with federal bribery and corruption charges in September. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

“Each gold bar has its own serial number,” Daibes told investigators in 2014 when questioned about the stolen gold. “They’re all stamped … you’ll never see two stamped the same way.”

Daibes also signed “property release forms” to get the gold back, which certify the stolen goods belonged to him, according to the outlet. 

Menendez, 69, was hit with federal corruption charges in September related to an alleged years-long bribery scheme.

Thirteen gold bars were found by the FBI on Menendez’s property. AP

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York charged Menendez and his wife, Nadine, 56, with three conspiracy counts in connection with what prosecutors call a “corrupt bribery agreement” that benefited the couple, three New Jersey businessmen – Daibes, Wael Hana and Jose Uribe – and the government of Egypt.

Prosecutors allege that in March 2022 Daibes gave Nadine two gold bars that were a kilogram each – when at the time gold went for $60,000 per kilogram.

And Daibes’ driver’s fingerprints were later discovered on an envelope containing thousands of dollars in cash that was recovered from the couple’s home, according to the indictment.

Menendez and his wife are accused of accepting bribes from Daibes in exchange for the senator’s help shielding him from criminal prosecution in a bank fraud case.  Christopher Sadowski

In total, 13 gold bars and $566,000 in cash, some stuffed into the pockets of the senator’s jackets, were found by the FBI during its investigation into the alleged bribery scheme. 

Menendez has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and has refused to resign from the Senate, despite numerous calls for him to do so, even from fellow Democrats. 

Menendez and his wife are accused of accepting bribes from Daibes in exchange for the senator’s help shielding him from criminal prosecution in a bank fraud case. 

The New Jersey Democrat allegedly helped Daibes by recommending President Biden pick Philip Sellinger, who the senator believed would apply a light touch to the case, for the post of New Jersey US Attorney. 

If convicted on all charges, Menendez faces up to 45 years in prison.