Sporting icon Sonny Bill Williams has caused controversy by vehemently denying allegations of Hamas atrocities in a passionate online tirade. The former New Zealand All Blacks rugby union star and two-time NRL premiership winner expressed his disbelief in a video posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Thursday.
Williams refuted reports of 40 babies being beheaded and contested claims that hostages had been treated poorly by Hamas after their October 7 attack on Israel, where he insisted that such accusations were baseless. In the video, he dismissed various alleged atrocities, including the intentional burning of babies in their cribs. Williams, who appeared in the video wearing a Keffiyeh and black clothing, argued against the credibility of these claims, despite the toll of around 1200 Israeli lives and numerous civilians being taken hostage during the terrorist group’s attack.
Sonny Bill Williams (pictured) uploaded a video to X on Thursday saying claims of babies being beheaded and hostages being treated ‘worse than animals’ were false
The video links a report to an article released by NBC in October, challenging the assertions made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli Defence Force about alleged beheadings of babies. Williams argued that the only confirmed events were the deaths of numerous Palestinian children, characterizing the situation as a genocide.
‘But you know what is true? 8000 kids have been killed since October 7.’
‘Look, it’s not that complicated. This ain’t a war, this is genocide.’
The clip garnered criticism from numerous users who accused Williams of spreading falsehoods.
‘I had a lot of respect for Sonny Bill Williams, but he is lying here,’ one user commented.
‘There is substantial evidence of Hamas systematically using rape as a weapon of war on October 7th.’
‘The problem with Sonny is… he is making comments based on EMOTION and not LOGIC and not accurate truth!’ another user remarked.
Some argued that Israel cannot justify attacking innocent civilians in Gaza based on claims of Israeli women being sexually assaulted and tortured.
‘It is totally ok to do (sic) genocide based on the raping claims, is it?’ one user wrote.
Israel responded with a harsh counteroffensive against Hamas in Gaza, involving ground attacks and aerial bombardments, resulting in the death of over 20,000 Palestinians, with almost 9000 being children.
A New York Times report on Thursday alleged that Israeli women and children were sexually assaulted and suffered major injuries during the conflict. The newspaper claimed that sources, along with video footage, photos, and GPS data they reviewed, indicated that Hamas terrorists inflicted the abuse on their victims in several locations during their attack on October 7.
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