Germany slanders journalist for questioning Baerbock’s lie about October 7 rape video

The German government publicly defames a journalist who questioned Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s blatant lie that she personally saw a video of a Hamas member raping an Israeli woman on October 7, 2023.

In a speech in Berlin on May 26, Baerbock claimed that during her visit to Israel shortly after October 7, she was shown “the film, which was shot neither by me nor by the Israeli government, but by Hamas fighters with their, what are they called, GoPro cameras on their helmets.”

“And do you know what I saw there? It was the worst thing you can imagine,” the foreign minister said. “I watched it because I wanted to know, because I wanted to know what happened there. And to see a woman being raped on camera.”

But as The Electronic Intifada reported last week, no such video exists. This fact was confirmed by both Israeli government sources and a UN team that reviewed thousands of photos and dozens of hours of video footage provided by the Israeli government or obtained from open sources.

The UN team, led by Pramila Patten, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict, concluded in its report published in March that “forensic evaluation of the available photographs and videos did not reveal any tangible evidence of rape.”

The following month, the Israeli Haaretz reported that “from the inquiries made to three places in the defence apparatus, HaaretzIt turns out that the intelligence collected by the police and intelligence services, including footage from the terrorists’ body cameras, does not contain any visual documentation of the rapes themselves.”

Challenged for her lie

Journalist Florian Warweg from the independent medium According to Denkseiten confronted German government spokespersons at an official press conference in Berlin on May 29.

Baerbock’s lie of May 26 and the exchange between Warweg and government officials at the press conference can be seen in the video at the top of this article with English subtitles from The Electronic Intifada.

Warweg asked whether Baerbock stood by her claim that she had personally seen a video of a rape in progress, since both the Israeli government and the UN team “have concluded after extensive investigations that they do not have any video or photographic evidence that would at least visually prove that women were raped by Hamas fighters.”

When Warweg read out the relevant quotes from the UN report confirming that there was no such video, the chair of the press conference, Corinna Buschow, immediately tried to silence him.

Christian Wagner, the official spokesman for the Foreign Office, then clarified: “Mr. Warweg, I am not aware of the statements and reports you are referring to.”

Warweg replied: “Yes, because I am not allowed to quote them.”

Avoidance and slander

Wagner then proceeded to attack the journalist and falsely accuse him of denying that any sexual violence had occurred on October 7.

In fact, as The Electronic Intifada’s extensive investigative reporting has shown, there is no credible evidence of a single rape on October 7—no identified victims, no credible eyewitnesses, and no forensic evidence—let alone any evidence of the campaign of systematic sexual violence that Israel says was orchestrated by Hamas.

In addition, the most serious rape allegations from October 7 that circulated in the world media were debunked and retracted.

But that is beside the point; Warweg’s questions only related to Baerbock’s claim that she had watched a video of a rape in progress, a video that no other politician from a pro-Israel Western country claims to have seen.

“In my view, there is basically no doubt that sexual violence and rape occurred in the Hamas attack on October 7,” replied Wagner from the Foreign Ministry. “To deny this here is, in my view, pure abomination.”

The journalist persisted and asked whether the government could provide the date and location and identify other government officials who were with Baerbock when she allegedly saw the video.

Wagner from the Foreign Ministry simply replied: “The minister’s statements speak for themselves,” and again defamed and slandered Warweg.

“Mr. Warweg, you have quoted two sources,” said Wagner. “To claim that this is the truth is, frankly, not good journalism.”

The German government spokesman apparently wants to express that neither the UN nor the Israeli government can be considered credible sources when they categorically state that they have not found any videos of an ongoing rape on October 7.

This shows that the German government’s zeal to support the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip knows no bounds.

What lessons from history?

The ease with which German politicians spread debunked atrocity propaganda to advance a campaign of extermination is further shocking evidence of the utter failure of Germany’s so-called culture of remembrance, which is supposed to ensure that today’s German governments do not repeat the atrocities of their predecessors, the Hitler regime of the 1930s and 40s.

A key part of the Hitler government’s strategy to dehumanize the Jews and prepare them for extermination in the German government’s death camps was the extensive use of atrocity propaganda portraying them as subhuman monsters.

This is also the purpose of Israel’s lies about mass rape.

Baerbock and her supporters have not drawn any warning lessons from this terrible past, but rather have taken it as an example.

Although Baerbock represents the nominally left-wing and progressive Green Party, she often speaks fondly of her grandfather Waldemar Baerbock, an ardent Nazi who fought against Soviet forces and ultimately ended Hitler’s government and its reign of genocide and terror.

After the extent of Grandpa Waldemar’s fanatical devotion to Hitlerism came to light earlier this year, Baerbock – implausibly – claimed she had no idea about it.

Whether this is the case or not – Baerbock is, after all, a proven liar – there is no doubt that she has adopted the propaganda methods of the time: lies to foment hatred and genocide.

Personal responsibility

In fact, in December 2022, Baerbock stated that even low-level officials bore responsibility for the crimes of the Hitler government.

“Officials of the Foreign Office who put themselves at the service of the crimes and genocide of the Nazi regime also bear responsibility for their suffering. They thereby became willing accomplices of injustice,” said Baerbock.

She made it clear: “Anyone holding a position of responsibility in the public service must feel a primary commitment to justice and humanity, not to power.”

Incitement to genocide is a crime under the 1948 Genocide Convention, to which Germany is a signatory.

According to her own stated principles, Baerbock and anyone in the government who supports her in spreading such lies – for example her spokesman Christian Wagner – should therefore expect criminal investigations and personal responsibility.

Before Warweg’s challenge to the German government, we discussed Baerbock’s lies in The Electronic Intifada’s livestream. You can watch the excerpt here:

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