The Israeli government announced Thursday it will file a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times over a meticulously-reported story from earlier this week on the alleged systematic rape and sexual abuse of Palestinian men, women and children held in Israeli prisons.
In a joint statement, both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said they ordered the lawsuit “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.”
The journalist published his sex abuse investigation in the Times’ Opinion section on Monday. Citing graphic, firsthand testimony from 14 survivors, Kristof lays out how Israeli settlers and members of security forces would engage in the sexual assault, rape and torture of Palestinian civilians being held in Israel’s many documented camps.
“I’m appalled by this pattern of abuse, partly because our American tax dollars subsidize the Israeli security forces. I fear that leaves us complicit,” the longtime columnist said in a Times video for the story. “Look, whether you consider yourself pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian, here’s one thing we should be able to agree on: We’re anti-rape.”
“Whether you consider yourself pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian, here’s one thing we should be able to agree on: We’re anti-rape.”
– Nicholas Kristof, columnist with The New York Times
Israel immediately attacked the Times and Kristof over the story, accusing them of perpetuating “blood libel” and “trying to create a false symmetry” between Hamas and Israeli forces.
Neither Kristof nor the Times immediately responded to HuffPost’s request for comment on the lawsuit, though both have repeatedly publicly defended the story from attacks by Israeli officials.
“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,” Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander said in a Wednesday statement.
“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,” he continued. “Independent experts were consulted on the assertions in the piece throughout reporting and fact-checking.”
The Times and Kristof are correct in that other reporters, experts, international human rights groups and the United Nations have for years been documenting the systemic issue of Israeli authorities committing acts of sexual violence against Palestinian civilians, including detainees.
A foreign government can technically sue a U.S. media company, though Israel is likely to face legal hurdles in a U.S. court due to broader constitutional protections for the press. The lawsuit may require Israel to open access to its prisons, something the government has fought against for both press and attorneys.
The lawsuit may also have trouble arguing defamation when figures in Israeli media itself have spoken in dehumanizing terms about harming Palestinian detainees, sometimes sexually. Israel’s Channel 12 broadcast leaked footage from 2024 that allegedly showed five soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian man at the notoriously violent Sde Teiman facility. The military indicted the soldiers for allegedly using a sharp object near his rectum ― sending him to the hospital ― before dropping all charges.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.
