Shani Louk, a 22-year-old German-Israeli woman, who was abducted to the Gaza Strip and paraded naked during Hamas’s 7th October terror attack, was found dead in Gaza, reports quoting the Israeli military said.
On Monday, the members of Louk’s family disclosed that they had received a heartbreaking letter from the Israeli Zaka rescue service, confirming the recovery and identification of a critical bone from the base of her skull, essential for a person’s survival.
“Regrettably, we were informed yesterday that my daughter is no longer with us,” Louk’s mother, Ricarda, conveyed to the German media outlet RTL.
Shani’s sister, Adi, also confirmed Shani’s passing in an Instagram post.
Visegrad24, a digital news aggregator, confirmed on Twitter that the Israeli President had said that the authorities found a part of Louk’s skull, indicating the possibility that she was beheaded by the Hamas terrorists.
Prolific Israeli lawyer also took to X to confirm the same.
After the 7th October massacre by Hamas in which over 1500 Israeli civilians were massacred by the Islamic terrorists, a horrific video had surfaced where a partially naked woman was merciless being carried at the back of a truck. Her legs seemed to be broken and the Palestinian men who were abducting her were desecrating her and spitting on her.
Her mother had first raised alarm after identifying the distinct tattoos that Louk had on her leg, visible in the video. The gruesome video showed terrorists shouting the Islamic slogan ‘Allah Hu Akbar’ while the partially naked body of a woman, later identified as Shani Louk, being paraded in a pickup truck. In some videos that surfaced on social media, a murderous crowd of Hamas terrorists could be seen surrounding the vehicle, chanting slogans and spitting on the woman’s body.
The video inspired widespread outrage. Amidst the outrage, a teary, hopeful mother had released a video expressing her hope that Louk was perhaps still alive.
In a self-recorded video message published by the Wall Street Journal, her mother, Ricarda Louk, had stated that a family friend in the Gaza Strip has told her that her daughter was alive in a Hamas hospital. However, she added that her condition is critical and every minute is important as her daughter had suffered a serious head injury during the Hamas terror attack.
She further pleaded before the German government and urged them not to raise the argument of jurisdiction and ‘act’ to ensure Shani’s safe return from the Gaza Strip.
She urged, “One should not argue about the question of jurisdiction. One must act quickly to get Shani out of the Gaza Strip. This is really my desperate call to the entire country of Germany to help me get my Shani back home healthy.”
These were, of course, the hopeful cries of a mother. An unconfirmed source had told her that her daughter could potentially be alive and she was all too willing to believe it, urging the authorities to get her daughter back home safe.
It is not unthinkable that a mother would pray for her daughter’s safe recovery after a video shows the fate she had potentially met at the hands of barbarians. Any mother would think of the worst. Any mother would sit and wonder the pain that her daughter endured at the hands of the beasts. Was she raped. Was she beaten. Was she tortured. Is she alive? How did she die – these are questions that a mother is bound to go over in her head a thousand times. In the moments of darkest despair, the despair of a mother losing a child, even an unconfirmed tip acts as a ray of hope. Hope that maybe her daughter is beaten, but alive. Maybe she would come home safe.
A mother’s hope in the face of inhuman brutality by Hamas is understandable and even expected. However, Islamists who have been desperately trying to drum up sympathy for Hamas under the garb of fighting for the rights of Palestinians, used the mother’s hopeful cries to whitewash the barbarity unleashed by the Islamist terrorist group against the civilian population of Israel in the 7th October terror attack.
Kavish Aziz, who claims to be a journalist and was formerly associated with Amar Ujala and Dainik Bhaskar took to X to cast aspersions on Israel, essentially insinuating that Israel could have shot Shani Louk themselves. He also claimed that Palestinians took great care of Shani Louk.
Big breaking
— Kavish Aziz (@azizkavish) October 10, 2023
The German girl “Shani Louk” who was said to have been killed, stripped naked and paraded by Hamas is actually alive.
She was found alive in a Gazan hospital. Palestinians helped her, it is possible that she was shot by Israeli forces.
Listen to her mother… pic.twitter.com/hEXq93QH5D
X handle called “Muslim Spaces” also tried to use Louk’s mother’s statement to discredit the documented atrocities mounted by Hamas against Israeli civilians.
“After Israeli children in cages & Jewish babies beheaded lies, one more propaganda busted!!! Shani Louk, the woman “abducted” & “murdered” by Hamas is alive, mother says!!! The German-Israeli citizen appeared in a graphic video circulated on social media in which Hamas militants can be seen stepping on her body as she is transported in the back of a vehicle! But her mother, Ricarda Louk, told broadcaster ARD she had received new information that her daughter is alive but had a severe head injury and is in a critical condition! “Every minute is critical and we are asking the German government to act quickly,” she said!”, the handle tweeted.
There were other Muslim handles who furthered this propaganda to whitewash Hamas as well.
A seemingly Indian Muslim man went as far as to tag AltNews’ co-founder Mohammad Zubair, who has been acting as the propaganda arm of Palestine and Hamas ever since the 7th October attack, to “fact-check” the news of Shani Louk being found alive while casting aspersions on the abduction itself.
Irena Akbar, former Indian Express “journalist” and Islamist, who had taken to X to justify the ill-treatment of Louk after the video had surfaced, also tweeted about the mother’s statement.
She essentially said that Hindus would be upset that she was not murdered by Hamas because that would deprive them of painting Muslims as “evil and brutal”. She also claimed that the news of Hamas raping and spitting on her was “exaggerated” and an example of “Islamophobia”.
It is pertinent to realise that most of these Muslims who were quick to believe that Louk was being ill-treated and then murdered by Hamas pretended to fight for the rights of Palestinians. But every atrocity that has been perpetrated by Hamas is often branded as “Zionist propaganda” by these very Muslims. It is evident that they were more than happy to believe the hopeful words of Louk’s mother not because they were hoping that innocent civilians would be found alive, but so they could use her to claim that all the documented evidence of Hamas’ brutality against Israelis were in fact “Zionist propaganda” and that not only the Palestinians but also Hamas was innocent of the crimes they were being accused of.
While there were several images of the charred bodies of babies, women and men, videos of Israelis being beheaded, images of their homes being burnt and Jews being tortured to death on the streets of Israel, the Islamists picked a statement from a grieving mother in an attempt to discredit all the atrocities that were committed by Hamas. Essentially, the Islamists tried to claim that since Louk was alive (she isn’t), it would mean that all the documented atrocities by Hamas should be viewed with a pinch of salt and suspicion.
The assertion was simple – the Jews are making up stories of their own persecution because they hate Muslims, that Hamas did not commit the atrocities they are being accused of and by extension, any offensive by Israel against Hamas and Palestine is one that is unjustified. The conclusion to this sinister campaign by the Islamists was for the Islamists to be treated as the actual victims and the Israelis to be viewed as the supremacists who were weaving fantastical tails to demonise Muslims.
While the Islamists are still attempting to whitewash the crimes of Hamas, Shani Louk’s skull has been found, giving rise to the conclusion by the Israeli President that after being stripped, paraded naked and desecrated, she was probably beheaded by Hamas. As evidence of atrocities by Hamas mounts, Islamists from India and across the world continue to extend support to Hamas hiding behind the veil of supporting human rights for Palestinians.