Israeli Government to Sue NY Times Over Story Alleging Its Guards Are Raping Prisoners

(Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered preparations for a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times after the paper published a column alleging “brutal sexual abuse” of Palestinians held in Israeli detention facilities.

In a statement issued Thursday by the Israeli Foreign Ministry and also shared by Netanyahu’s office, the government condemned the allegations as “one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel,” announcing it would pursue legal action over an opinion piece by columnist Nicholas Kristof.

Netanyahu followed with a personal statement:

In the article, published as an opinion piece under the headline “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” Kristof wrote of accounts by several individuals, including one detainee who alleged he had been sexually abused in an area where other prisoners had suffered similar treatment, claiming he “found other people’s vomit, blood and broken teeth crushed into his skin.”

The column also included allegations that another prisoner was “penetrated” by a dog while in Israeli custody.

The article sparked widespread backlash, including from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which initially called the story “one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press” while calling the allegations “baseless” and trashing Kristof as a “propagandist.”

In response, The Times stood firmly behind Kristof’s reporting on Tuesday and Wednesday after criticism from Israeli officials intensified.

In a statement, The Times said Kristof “draws together on-the-record accounts and cites several analyses documenting the practice of sexual violence and abuse conducted by various parts of Israel’s security forces and settlers.”

The newspaper added that the column, described as a “deeply reported piece of opinion journalism” that begins “with a proposition to readers: ‘Whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemning rape.’”

It also defended the sourcing behind the article, saying: “The accounts of the 14 men and women he interviewed were corroborated with other witnesses, whenever possible, and with people the victims confided in – that includes family members and lawyers.”

The Times defended its reporting in a lengthy statement sent to Mediaite.

“The Israeli Prime Minister has threatened to file a libel lawsuit against The New York Times regarding Nicholas Kristof’s deeply reported opinion column on sexual abuse by Israel’s prison guards, soldiers, settlers, and interrogators. This threat, similar to one made last year, is part of a well-worn political playbook that aims to undermine independent reporting and stifle journalism that does not fit a specific narrative. Any such legal claim would be without merit,” said a spokesperson for the Times, adding:

Nick’s column starts with a proposition to readers: ‘Whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemning rape.’ Nick writes about the brutal sexual assaults against Israeli women during the Hamas-led attack on Israel. He then chronicles 14 on-the-record victim accounts and cites eight independent human rights reports documenting the practice of sexual violence and abuse conducted by various parts of Israel’s security forces and settlers. Nick has covered sexual violence for decades, and is widely regarded as one of the world’s best on-the-ground journalists in documenting and bearing witness to sexual abuse experienced by women and men in war and conflict zones.

The accounts of the men and women he interviewed were corroborated with witnesses, whenever possible, and with people the victims confided in, including family members and lawyers. Details were extensively fact-checked, with accounts further cross-referenced with news reporting, independent research from human-rights groups, surveys and in one case, with U.N. testimony. Independent experts were consulted on the assertions in the piece throughout reporting and fact-checking.

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