{"id":125991,"date":"2026-05-22T10:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/125991\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T10:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:26:14","slug":"no-errors-nyt-defends-its-allegations-of-systematic-israeli-sexual-abuse-of-palestinian-inmates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/125991\/","title":{"rendered":"‘No errors’: NYT defends its allegations of systematic Israeli sexual abuse of Palestinian inmates"},"content":{"rendered":"

In response to an outcry and accusations of \u201cblood libel\u201d over a recent opinion column<\/a> detailing alleged systematic sexual abuse of Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli detention, The New York Times on Thursday defended the article, with the newspaper\u2019s opinion editor saying it was \u201cbuilt upon a growing body of evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an extensive response to \u201cyour questions\u201d published<\/a> in the outlet\u2019s opinion section, the column\u2019s author, Nicholas Kristof, and Times Opinion head Kathleen Kingsbury, defended the piece amid mounting backlash, including criticisms from the Times\u2019 readership, denials and condemnations from Israeli officials, and an announcement by the Israeli government that it intends to sue<\/a> the newspaper for defamation.<\/p>\n

Kingsbury wrote that Kristoff\u2019s reporting was rigorously fact-checked before publication \u201cto ensure that every testimony and anecdote he personally reported was supported by independent sources.\u201d After publication, she added, \u201cWe reviewed the factual challenges that readers and others raised\u2026 Editors found no errors.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar said in a joint statement issued days after the op-ed\u2019s publication that it was \u201cone of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press.\u201d The Israel Prison Service called the allegations \u201cfalse and entirely unfounded.\u201d<\/p>\n

The column, titled \u201cThe Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,\u201d published on May 11, alleged \u201ca pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children \u2014 by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Among the incidents Kristof referenced was the alleged 2024 sexual abuse of a Gazan detainee at the Sde Teiman prison. He also cited testimony from Palestinians who said they were routinely stripped naked in detention, groped and forcibly penetrated with various objects.<\/p>\n

Related \u2013 \u2018Blood libel\u2019: Israel rejects NYT column alleging widespread rape of Palestinian inmates<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the most controversial testimonies featured in the piece came from a Gaza journalist detained in 2024, who alleged that Israeli security personnel trained dogs to mount and rape prisoners. A canine training expert said<\/a> the allegations of dog-rape were implausible if not completely impossible.<\/p>\n

The allegation, which has circulated in anti-Israel media for some time, was recently amplified by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, a key source cited in Kristof\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tNew York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof speaks onstage during the 2024 Concordia Annual Summit on September 25, 2024, in New York City. (Riccardo Savi \/ Getty Images via AFP)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis passage provoked the most disgust and disbelief,\u201d Kristof wrote on Thursday, acknowledging that he debated whether to include it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, I did because he had told his account previously and because what he described has happened before,\u201d he charged, pointing to a similar account published in a BBC article<\/a> last December.<\/p>\n

Euro-Med has shared conspiracy theories about the October 7, 2023, attack, alleging the crime scene was \u201cdoctored\u201d and that some of the Palestinians seen dead in Israeli territory with assault rifles after the attack were in fact civilians whose killing had been a war crime. The NGO has also described the people taken hostage by Hamas during the attack as having been \u201carrested and moved to the Gaza Strip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denouncing the Times\u2019 piece shortly after its publication, Israel\u2019s Ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, charged that two leaders of the NGO \u201chave been repeatedly found to have links to Hamas,\u201d and posted a 2011 picture of the pair in a group photo with then-Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.<\/p>\n

The @nytimes<\/a> and @NickKristof<\/a> count on you not pulling the curtain back on their lies.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t buy into their blood libels \u2013 watch and find out who\u2019s really behind this narrative. pic.twitter.com\/Rf94hYlIFw<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ambassador Yechiel (Michael) Leiter (@yechielleiter) May 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

In Thursday\u2019s response, Kristof also defended his reporting process, saying he \u201ctraveled to the West Bank and interviewed 14 survivors of rape or other sexual assaults,\u201d and \u201ccited three surveys that illuminated the scale of this violence, backed by the work of nine organizations and two Israeli lawyers who have worked on these topics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tThe Israel Prison Service dresses Palestinian prisoners set for release in shirts featuring its logo, a Star of David and the sentence in Arabic: \u2018We will not forget or forgive,\u2019 February 15, 2025. (Israel Prison Service)<\/p>\n

He added that he corroborated each testimony by speaking \u201ceither to a witness to the abuse; to a family member, lawyer, or social worker the person had confided in; or I backed up the individual\u2019s story with public comments the person made previously.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, Kristof acknowledged that \u201crapes are difficult to document, and they are often contested,\u201d but argued that \u201cit serves no one to automatically discount people\u2019s accounts because of their identity or beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Times doesn\u2019t rule out interviewing people or considering them credible because they were in prison or detained,\u201d Kingsbury said.<\/p>\n

The column also drew criticism over its reliance on the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, whose chairman, Ramy Abdu, has been found to have ties with Hamas leadership and wrote on October 8, 2023 \u2014 a day after the terror group\u2019s onslaught in southern Israel \u2014 that footage from the attacks on Ofakim and Magen showed \u201cHollywood-like amazing scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tMazen Kahel and Ramy Abdu, among the leadership of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor NGO, are seen posing with Hamas officials, including Ismail Haniyeh, in Gaza in 2011. (NGO Monitor)<\/p>\n

Kristof said Abdu\u2019s comments \u201ccan\u2019t be taken lightly,\u201d but added that \u201cciting a source does not constitute an endorsement of its leadership\u2019s political views, or social media activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing why the original article appeared in the opinion section rather than as a news report, Kingsbury said it was because Kristof is a Times Opinion columnist \u201cwith decades of experience reporting on sexual abuse in conflict zones, and his columns run in the Opinion section.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAn Opinion column offers a proposition that the writer is asking readers to consider,\u201d Kingsbury explained. \u201cNewsroom articles and investigations, by contrast, unearth and confirm newsworthy facts and information to share with readers, not to make an argument.\u201d<\/p>\n


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