Israel to sue NYT over column alleging sexual abuse, rape against Palestinian prisoners

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Israeli officials said Thursday that they will sue The New York Times over a column alleging that Israeli soldiers sexually abused and raped Palestinian prisoners.

“Following the publication by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times of one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press, which also received the backing of the newspaper, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have instructed the initiation of a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times,” the Israel Foreign Ministry posted on X.

The article cited accounts from 14 former Palestinian prisoners who claimed that Israel’s forces sexually abused them, the New York Post reported. The column also alleged that Israeli troops trained their dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners.

“Today I instructed my legal advisers to consider the harshest legal action against The New York Times and Nicholas Kristof,” Netanyahu posted on X. “They defamed the soldiers of Israel and perpetuated a blood libel about rape, trying to create a false symmetry between the genocidal terrorists of Hamas and Israel’s valiant soldiers. Under my leadership, Israel will not be silent. We will fight these lies in the court of public opinion and in the court of law. Truth will prevail.”

The Israel Foreign Ministry alleged that The New York Times purposely published Kristof’s column ahead of an independent Israeli report that found Hamas had systematically used sexual violence during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel, the Times of Israel reported. The Foreign Ministry claimed that The New York Times had been approached with the Israeli report “months ago.”

The New York Times defended the column, according to the Post.

“Nicholas Kristof is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has reported on sexual violence for decades and is widely regarded as one of the world’s best on-the-ground reporters documenting and bearing witness to sexual abuse experienced by women and men in war and conflict zones,” a New York Times spokesperson said.

“He traveled to the region to report firsthand on the stories of the Palestinians who suffered abuse, and his article collects accounts in the victims’ own words, backed by independent studies.”