The mother of Shani Louk, a 22-year-old German national believed to have been kidnapped by Hamas fighters during the militant group’s surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, said on Tuesday that her daughter is alive.

Louk, a tattoo artist, was attending the Tribe of Nova music festival in the plains of the Negev Desert near Urim, close to the Gaza Strip, on Saturday when Hamas fighters stormed the event. She’s believed to have been seized by the militants and paraded through the streets in the back of a pick-up.

On Tuesday, Louk’s family announced they had proof that Louk—who grew up in Israel—was alive. German news website Blick reported that her mother said she was in a hospital in Gaza with serious head injuries.

“We now have more information that Shani is alive,” her mother told television channel NTV, adding she received the information from unnamed Palestinian sources.

The mother added that Louk is seriously injured, and asked the German government for help and quick action.

126 points

While I’m glad some good news came out of this, can we maybe focus on the 1,600 other people that are missing or died during the Hamas attack? News media has this obsession over reporting on young white females in peril.

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84 points

With almost non-stop negative news the past few days, some positive news seems very welcome thb.

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27 points
*

She’s in a hospital with severe head injuries. And as someone else pointed out, it’s a Gaza hospital, there’s no place in Gaza that’s safe right now from Israel’s response.

This isn’t positive news, it’s slightly less bad news.

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41 points

Wait until you see what demographic Hamas kidnapped the most of.

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26 points

Reporting on brown, middle-eastern nationals? In a war in their own country? What is this woke bullshit?!

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4 points

Lots of Israelis are white.

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-4 points

Israel is an occupying force in Palestine. It’s not “their own country,” just because they say it is and have the US military to back them up.

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82 points

Damn that really is surprising. I’m glad that she’s alive. Hope that she can return home safe.

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16 points

Was it not her in the truck then? I thought the family had positively identified her by her tattoos.Though, you really can’t see much of them in the video that went viral.

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32 points

Either she was just unconscious or they are lying. But it seems pointless for the latter since they’d find out eventually, unless they plan on blaming her death on one of the bombs that are being dropped in Gaza. I guess we’ll see if the family gets her back.

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-1 points

But it seems pointless for the latter since they’d find out eventually,

well its been shown pretty clearly these baby decapitators arent exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. They were on an adrenaline high after their little murder spree and felt they were on top of the world. The next day or so and reality set in and maybe they realised they not only signed their own death warrants, but that of thousands of their ‘people’ and set their cause back decades. Now they are scambling like the cowards they are to try and ‘fix’ what is unfixable

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-49 points
Deleted by creator
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31 points

Such an unnecessary assumption to make from a small snippet of text.

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-10 points
Deleted by creator
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74 points
*

So she is in a Gazan Hospital. The same Gazan hospitals that Israeli bombing has now overwhelmed and whose blockade is preventing humanitarian aid from entering. Hey maybe the UN was right in calling out that a total siege is illegal.

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23 points

I wanted to say: not even israel would be stupid enough to let them die of thirst… but how much crazy shit happened these last 10 years? I don’t know, I hope not…

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12 points

Nah Israel is exactly that crazy. They know they have the unconditional support of the west. They had the palestinians in an open air concentration camp for decades now and have committed countless war crimes against them and no one gave a shit. At this point they could unironically put arm bands on them and start shipping them off to gas chambers and the western sycophants would sing their praises still.

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4 points

And when I hear of children being killed and some beheaded, I understand the hate and fear of the monstrosity that pushes this. The human shields of innocent civilians and hostages, put in place to protect military installations, demonstrates disregard of all humanity, wrapped in rabid zealotry. The reason that extreme military tactics such as crimes against humanity were put in place was also to leave a path to peace after hostilities end. Otherwise, we sink to genocide as the only solution. Zealots ignore this, eventually forcing both sides to adopt a kill them all mentality. Humanity loses.

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1 point

open air concentration camp

Not necessarily totally relevant to your point, but I keep hearing this and… what exactly do people think concentration camps are? Giant tents? Repurposed community centers?

I’m not sure I could point to one that wasn’t “open air”

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9 points

The current guy in power in Israel is a far-right nutter who wanted to subvert Democracy by removing the independence of the Judiciary.

If this young woman is alive (and who knows, as she’s become a pawn in a propaganda war, so both sets of liars along with all the unthinking tribalist parrots are pushing opposing stories) and her death is useful for propaganda purposes, expect Bibi and his ideological accomplices to choose the options that result in making sure she’s dead if they think no blame will ever end at their door.

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3 points

Are you kidding?! We’re about to see human suffering on a level not seen since WW2. Netanyahu loves that this happened, because now he can indiscriminately murder and displace Palestinians without as much blowback.

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-11 points

The blockade is enforced by Israel and Egypt together, they share the blame for this war crime.

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30 points

Nope. The raffa crossing into Egypt was open yesterday. In fact the IDF instructed people to leave via that crossing, then they bombed it today.

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68 points

This is a big doubt. “Unnamed Palestinian sources” = Hamas propagandism.

We have all seen the video where Hamas proudly showcases her mangled lifeless body.

Wishful thinking from that poor mom who is being used to turn the narrative for Hamas when they realized Shani Louk was a german citizen.

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39 points

I don’t know what would be worse. If they did that grotesque parade with her corpse, or with her alive but in critical condition.

God. This is so unbelievably fucked up. I think I’d call it unrealistic, gratuitous violence if it happened in a fictional story.

I really have no other words. I had a history teacher who said that there was nothing more dangerous than a zealot. He was all too right.

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9 points
Removed by mod
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12 points

What? That’s all everyone is talking about even before.

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5 points

I don’t know what would be worse. If they did that grotesque parade with her corpse, or with her alive but in critical condition.

I’m curious how an unconscious girl ended up in the hospital after being “paraded around in critical condition”. Any chance that was just the worlds most beat down ambulance?

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2 points

With the world’s worst EMTs to boot.

Something in the story just doesn’t make sense.

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5 points

we did it reddit!

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3 points
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deleted by creator

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6 points

Fyi - the EU isn’t stopping aid for Palestine, it was a comment made by an official that cannot unilaterally decide on this and other EU states are against it.

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2 points
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deleted by creator

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-11 points

The “body” looked like a doll.

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12 points

Ever heard the term ragdoll?

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1 point
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Removed by mod
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The Ragdoll is a breed of cat with a distinct colorpoint coat and blue eyes. Its morphology is large and weighty, and it has a semi-long and silky soft coat. American breeder Ann Baker developed Ragdolls in the 1960s. They are best known for their docile, placid temperament and affectionate nature.

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48 points

Hope she’s really alive, but her life will never be the same after these horrible events :(

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58 points

If you care about victims of rape, don’t spread that bs about “life being over” and other disheartening quotes that make them feel like a used up rag. If she survives, it’s cause for celebration, period.

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70 points

Nobody said anything about her being raped, and never said anything about her life being over. She was present during a mass-killing, was brutalized in the process, and she is now being held captive by a terrorist group. Even if Hamas wasn’t raping their victims (which they absolutely are), living through this will, without a doubt, change the trajectory of a person’s life.

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25 points

It blows my mind that there are people who think mental recovery from things like this is a simple, easy process. Imagine all the horrors of war without any of the training and purpose of cause that allow you to cope just a bit and most still suffer from severe PTSD from that. She just got more trauma crammed into one week than many will see in their entire lives, with more to come and maybe more previously we don’t know about. Her life isn’t over, and it could eventually be fine. But it will be different.

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41 points

I agree with the point you’re making.

her life will never be the same after these horrible events

I don’t think this is the equivalent of saying life is over. It’s saying that if Shani Louk is alive it’s good news while also acknowledging that there has still been significant grievous harm caused to this young woman.

Her not being dead is not equivalent to no harm/no foul. Hamas still has responsibility for significant harm caused to Shani Louk.

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5 points

It wasn’t trying to diminish the atrocity, sorry if it came out that way. This is humanity at its lowest. I’m just happy she might still survive.

I just keep the aggressor out of my head when thinking about the victim, they don’t deserve the attention.

I guess I’m a little triggered by this specific theme, thx for the feedback.

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37 points

I’m more worried about the fact that she is very likely paralyzed to some degree and appears to have a hole in her head.

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31 points

Did you actually read what you were responding to, or just have kneejerk reaction?

You’re not wrong, but the person you are responding to didn’t say any of those things.

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30 points
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Suggesting their life will never be the same is not equivalent to suggesting they are worthless. They didn’t say “life being over”

Victims of rape will never be the same, as they will have a very traumatic event in their history. That event is of significance, not devaluation.

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18 points

You’re the only one interpreting it like that.

Some trauma stays with you for life. No one’s calling her a “used up rag,” the reality is that she may continue to suffer from what happened for the rest of her life.

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3 points

I think tt trauma of part of her head missing is more likely the concern here.

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0 points

Yeah i got that later, see other response. Tldr; personal trigger sorry

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10 points

What about ‘serious head injuries’? They can be pretty life changing and can end up in ‘life being over’ compared to normal…

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-4 points

There are many possibilities like this you’re right, she might be brain dead, etc. I was using a broad definition of “alive”, having autonomic functions and a fair amount of cognitive and physical fitness.

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7 points

Thank you.

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4 points

❤️

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6 points

Do you have a source for the claim she was raped?

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4 points

Stripped almost naked in a crowd of armed men from a subculture that considers women of different religions to be worthless isn’t good enough for you?

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4 points

Acknowledging is not perpetuating.

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-4 points

Agreed. Don’t let their entire life be defined by this one event.

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-25 points

Let’s slow the fuck up and wait for some facts to come out. An hour ago this girl was being touted as basically a martyr

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34 points

So, facts came out. People were raped, killed, and/or captured.

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-21 points

This was the girl everyone was saying was raped and murdered. No reputable news publication has confirmed that she was raped and she is now confirmed alive.

So slow the fuck up.

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