{"id":119554,"date":"2026-05-18T15:08:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:08:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/119554\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T15:08:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T15:08:22","slug":"nick-kristofs-israel-abuse-claims-spark-civil-war-at-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/119554\/","title":{"rendered":"Nick Kristof\u2019s Israel abuse claims spark civil war at New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A civil war has erupted inside the New York Times over Nicholas Kristof\u2019s explosive column alleging widespread sexual abuse<\/a> of Palestinians by Israeli prison guards.<\/p>\n

Staffers at the newspaper are questioning whether some of the most incendiary claims<\/a>, including an allegation that Israel trains dogs to rape Palestinian detainees, would have ever cleared the paper\u2019s newsroom standards, according to Puck News.<\/p>\n

The internal backlash has grown so intense that one Times journalist vented to Puck: \u201cI am sick of being embarrassed by the Opinion section.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicholas Kristof\u2019s controversial column on alleged sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees has sparked backlash inside and outside the New York Times. Getty Images for Aurora Humanitarian Initiative<\/p>\n

The controversy centers on Kristof\u2019s May 11 opinion essay, \u201cThe Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,\u201d<\/a> which included graphic allegations from Palestinian detainees who claimed they were sexually assaulted, raped with objects and abused by Israeli prison guards, interrogators and settlers.<\/a><\/p>\n

The column immediately ignited outrage from pro-Israel critics, sparked denunciations from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and triggered threats of a libel suit against the Times.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Times pushed back forcefully against Netanyahu\u2019s threat to sue the paper, with spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha saying the proposed libel action was \u201cpart of a well-worn political playbook that aims to undermine independent reporting and stifle journalism that does not fit a specific narrative.\u201d <\/p>\n

She added that \u201cany such legal claim would be without merit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kristof\u2019s column included graphic allegations from Palestinians who claimed they were sexually abused while detained by Israeli authorities. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

While Times leadership has publicly defended Kristof\u2019s reporting as \u201crigorously and meticulously fact-checked,\u201d Puck reported that many newsroom journalists remain privately \u201csuspicious\u201d of the sourcing behind some of the column\u2019s most graphic allegations.<\/p>\n

Kristof\u2019s piece from last week included graphic firsthand accounts from Palestinians who claimed they were raped with batons and other objects, stripped naked, beaten, threatened with rape and sexually humiliated while in Israeli detention facilities.<\/p>\n

A screenshot of Nicholas Kristof\u2019s May 11 New York Times opinion column that triggered backlash from Israeli officials and debate inside the paper\u2019s newsroom.<\/p>\n

One Palestinian journalist alleged guards tried to force a rubber baton into his rectum before using a carrot instead, while another detainee claimed he was assaulted multiple times with a metal baton after attempting to file a complaint.<\/p>\n

Kristof also cited allegations that guards beat detainees\u2019 genitals, threatened prisoners\u2019 family members with rape and used dogs in acts of sexual abuse against prisoners.<\/p>\n

The column included testimony from a Gaza journalist who claimed a dog was encouraged by guards to sexually assault him while prison staff laughed and photographed the incident.<\/p>\n

Israeli officials flatly denied the allegations.<\/p>\n

The Israeli prison service told the Times it \u201ccategorically rejects the allegations\u201d of sexual abuse, while Netanyahu denounced accusations of sexual violence against Israel as \u201cbaseless.\u201d<\/p>\n

The New York Times headquarters in Manhattan, where tensions are reportedly simmering over Kristof\u2019s controversial Israel column. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n

The Times defended Kristof\u2019s reporting in a separate statement from spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander, who said the columnist \u201cdraws together on-the-record accounts and cites several analyses documenting the practice of sexual violence and abuse conducted by various parts of Israel\u2019s security forces and settlers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stadtlander said the accounts from the 14 Palestinians interviewed for the piece \u201cwere corroborated with other witnesses, whenever possible, and with people the victims confided in \u2014 that includes family members and lawyers.\u201d <\/p>\n

He added that the material was \u201cextensively fact-checked,\u201d with accounts cross-referenced against reporting, human rights research, surveys and UN testimony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A civil war has erupted inside the New York Times over Nicholas Kristof\u2019s explosive column alleging widespread sexual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[11007,37,689,9109,498,10297],"class_list":["post-119554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-abuse","tag-israel","tag-media","tag-new-york-times","tag-palestine","tag-sexual-abuse"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116596211929663222","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}