The director of a sexual violence center at a Canadian university is being criticized for signing an open letter denying that women were raped during Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7.
Samantha Pearson, director of the University of Alberta’s Sexual Assault Center, was among those who signed in support of the letter from two local politicians.
Sarah Jama, member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament, and Susan Kim, a city councilor in Victoria, British Columbia, wrote the letter to all members of the Canadian Parliament.
“We, the undersigned, residing in so-called Canada, urge Canada’s political leaders to end their complicity in the ongoing massacres and genocide in Gaza, occupied Palestine,” they wrote.
The letter – titled ‘Support Palestine: Call on political leaders to end their complicity in genocide!’ – called on MPs to resign after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refused to demand a ceasefire.
And the signatories criticized opposition leader Jagmeet Singh for “repeating the unverified accusation that Palestinians were guilty of sexual violence.”
Samantha Pearson, the director of the University of Alberta’s Sexual Assault Center, downplayed the rape and sexual assault allegations on Oct. 7, saying the reports were “unverified.”
Dashcam footage shows Gaza militants attacking a nighttime music festival in southern Israel, shooting revelers at point-blank range and then looting their belongings.
An aerial photo shows the bodies of victims of the Hamas attack on the Kfar Aza kibbutz on Tuesday
Allegations of sexual violence and rape by Hamas terrorists are currently under investigation, but early evidence is strong. The times of Israel reported on November 14.
Amid the chaos, the rape kits were not distributed within the necessary 48-hour period, but witnesses have made strong statements.
In one video shown by Israeli officials, a woman is stripped from the waist down, with her underwear hanging from one thigh. She is face down and dead.
In another case, a mutilated dead woman has her dress tied up to her waist, without underpants.
At least 1,200 people were killed in the massacre and 200 were taken hostage
A soldier is overcome with emotion as he searches for bodies in the kibbutz
A woman’s body is covered with a blanket in Kfar Azza
German tattoo artist Shani Louk, 30, was among those killed on October 7
Louk’s body is thrown into the back of a truck by the terrorists
One eyewitness, identified only as Witness S, is filmed telling police that she watched Hamas terrorists rape a woman, cut off her breast and then shot her in the head.
“He’s raping her here, and then they pass her on to someone else,” she said.
“Afterwards, someone actually penetrates her and shoots her in the head before he’s done. It’s not like he cums and picks up his pants… He shoots her in the head while he’s still inside her.”
The woman described by Witness S has been identified by police, said Mirit Ben Mayor, a spokesperson for the Israeli police.
He said the investigation “is not a traditional rape investigation,” given the circumstances in which many of the bodies were found.
He said investigators would draw their conclusions based on “the condition of the bodies that came in, bodies in the field, based on the stories people tell, based on the situation of the bodies that arrived for forensic examination at Shura.”
‘We say there was rape, there was sexual harassment. There is no doubt about these events.”
Kobi Shabtai, the police commissioner, said the police’s ongoing investigation “has uncovered evidence pointing to rape (and) amputation of organs,” including breasts.
“Many of the victims who survived the massacres are unwilling to say anything,” Shabtai said.
Pearson has yet to respond to DailyMail.com’s questions about her support for the sexual assault denial.
The letter goes on to accuse Israel of launching airstrikes on Al Ahli Hospital – claiming that “the Anglican Church that owns the hospital and Doctors Without Borders” said the October 17 rocket came from Israel came, and not from Gaza.
An Associated Press analysis found that a rocket fired from Palestinian territory that disintegrated in mid-air likely hit the hospital and caused the catastrophe.
President Joe Biden, citing U.S. intelligence agencies, told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it appears “the other team did it.”
The authors also demand that Canadian MPs declare Israel a terrorist state.
“Rather than glossing over the reality, your letter should have started by condemning Israeli apartheid and occupation,” they write.
“Furthermore, by not recognizing the Israeli occupation as ‘terrorist’ and directing this term only to Palestinian resistance, you are perpetuating an Islamophobic trope.
“Your language fuels the collective trauma your voters are experiencing and incites hate crimes against Palestinians and Muslims.”
They conclude: ‘As elected officials, you must contribute to a sensible political and social debate. We urge you to stand on the right side of history, where you will be redeemed: resign with integrity and dignity.”
The letter has been signed by 2,100 people so far.
Jama was expelled from her political party, the NDP, on October 23 over her rhetoric and is now independent.