Israel’s Foreign Ministry Denounces New York Times Op-Ed on Sexual Abuse of Palestinians

Israel’s Foreign Ministry denounced The New York Times for publishing an op-ed on Israel’s systemic sexual abuse of Palestinians, posting on X that the Times “chose to publish one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press.”

“Gift this articleShare to FacebookPrint article Article printing is available to subscribers only Print in a simple, ad-free format Subscribe Comments: SaveZen Reading Zen reading is available to subscribers only Ad-free and in a comfortable reading format Subscribe”

Haaretz

The Foreign Ministry also claimed the op-ed is “part of a false and well-orchestrated anti-Israel campaign,” and said the Times has an “agenda.”

Haaretz

The op-ed at the center of the dispute is “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” by Nicholas Kristof, which recounts stories of 14 Palestinians who experienced sexual violence at the hands of Israeli soldiers and settlers.

Haaretz reported that Israel launched a barrage of accusations on X against The New York Times, framing the article as “one of the worst blood libels” and part of an “orchestrated anti-Israel campaign.”

Nicholas Kristof, quoted on X, said, “I’ve spent some time reporting on widespread rape and other sexual violence of Palestinian male and female prisoners by Israeli authorities,” and added that “The assault victims were warned not to speak of what they endured.”

Kristof also wrote that “One man described being raped three times in a single day in Israeli prison,” and that “Even three children who had been detained told me they had been sexually abused.”

New York Times

Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, condemned the piece, saying that The New York Times and Kristof “count on you not pulling the curtain back on their lies.”

Leiter warned readers not to “buy into their blood libels,” while Truthout said the interviews were reinforced by testimony from Israeli and international human rights organizations and described the alleged pattern as systemic and used on a daily basis.

The New York Times op-ed argues that Palestinians have recounted “a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children,” including by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and prison guards.

“Israel’s Foreign Ministry denounced The New York Times for publishing an op-ed on Israel’s systemic sexual abuse of Palestinians”

Truthout

The Times column says there is “no evidence that Israeli leaders order rapes,” but it describes a security apparatus where sexual violence has become, as a United Nations report put it last year, “one of Israel’s ‘standard operating procedures’ and “a major element in the ill treatment of Palestinians.”

Truthout links Kristof’s piece to earlier Times coverage, noting that in December 2023 the Times published “Screams Without Words,” alleging that Hamas “weaponized sexual violence” on October 7, 2023.

Truthout also says the “Screams Without Words” article was featured on the front page of the Times and that it aimed to bolster Israel’s genocidal response to October 7, while quoting Sana Saeed that “None of this is new. Sexual violence against Palestinians — men, boys, women, girls — has been an intimate part of the Israeli occupation for eight decades.”