Israel has sharply criticized The New York Times, accusing the publication of disseminating a ‘blood libel’ following an article that alleged extensive sexual assaults on Palestinian detainees.
The controversy arose from an opinion piece by columnist Nicholas Kristof, titled ‘The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,’ where he interviewed 14 individuals who claimed to be victims of sexual violence.
The article featured harrowing accounts, with several individuals alleging repeated assaults with batons by Israeli prison guards. Kristof reported that some victims had their genitals abused to the extent that one required amputation due to the severity of the injuries.
One particularly disturbing account involved an anonymous journalist from Gaza, who claimed he was sexually assaulted by a dog while soldiers allegedly laughed and captured the incident on camera.
Kristof posited that, although Israeli leaders might not directly command such acts, the nation’s security framework perpetuates an environment where sexual violence is used as a tool against Palestinians.
In response, Prime Minister Netanyahu dismissed these claims of sexual violence as ‘baseless,’ drawing parallels to how quickly Hamas rejected similar accusations during the events of October 7.
In response to the column, Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs took to social media to strongly condemn the article, claiming the NY Times ‘chose to publish one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press.’
The post continued: ‘In an unfathomable inversion of reality, and through an endless stream of baseless lies, propagandist Nicholas Kristof turns the victim into the accused.
In an opinion piece for the paper titled ‘The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians’, columnist Nicholas Kristof interviewed 14 alleged victims of sexual abuse
In response to the column, Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs took to social media to strongly condemn the article
‘Israel – whose citizens were the victims of the most horrific sexual crimes committed by Hamas on Oct 7, and whose hostages were later subjected to further sexual abuse – is portrayed as the guilty party.’
‘This publication is no coincidence. It is part of a false and well-orchestrated anti-Israel campaign aimed at placing Israel on the UN Secretary-General’s blacklist.
‘Israel will fight these lies with the truth – and the truth will prevail.’
‘Blood libel’ is a harmful antisemitic trope, originating in the Middle Ages, that falsely accuses Jews of murdering Christians for religious rituals.
The term has evolved to encompass any modern, malicious conspiracy theory or false accusation targeting Jewish people and Israel
In the article, the columnist cited a speech where Netanyahu demanded global condemnation of Hamas’s October 7 sexual violence, asking, ‘Where the hell are you?’
‘Think of it this way: The horrific abuse inflicted on Israeli women on Oct 7 now happens to Palestinians day after day,’ Kristof wrote.
‘It persists because of silence, indifference and the failure of American and Israeli officials alike to answer Netanyahu’s query: Where the hell are you?’
Kristof went on to claim that the US is ‘complicit’ in the alleged sexual violence, as US tax dollars subsidize the Israeli security establishment.
Honest Reporting, a pro-Israel media watchdog, alleged inconsistencies in a key complainant’s account, claiming they previously expressed pro-Hamas views.
Several prominent figures have spoken out against the column, with journalist David Collier accusing the publication of ‘acting like a Hamas mouthpiece to deliberately spread misinformation.’
Journalist and commentator Emily Schrader added that spreading ‘absurd claims’ that Israel uses dogs to rape Palestinians make a ‘mockery’ of victims of sexual violence.
These new allegations mirror accounts from Sde Teiman military prison, where in July 2024 CCTV footage appeared to show several Israeli guards sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee.
A prisoner later required treatment in hospital for internal injuries, including tears to his rectum and a punctured lung.
The soldiers were charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm, but the charges were dropped in March 2026 – a decision praised by Netanyahu.
Kristof published his piece just before the release of the most comprehensive report to date on October 7 sexual violence, authored by the independent Israeli women’s rights NGO, The Civil Commission.
The Daily Mail was the first British newspaper granted advance access to the report, fittingly titled ‘Silenced No More’.
It highlights over 430 testimonies from witnesses, survivors, and medical staff detailing horrors from the Nova music festival and Kibbutzim attacks.
Kristof said Netanyahu labelled reports of sexual violence as ‘baseless,’ similar to how Hamas dismissed claims of rape during the October 7 attacks
Returning hostages and experts provided evidence of systematic sexual violence and abuse by Hamas terrorists
Returning hostages and experts provided evidence of systematic sexual violence and abuse by Hamas terrorists.
It shows it was not just women who were degraded as a ‘deliberate tool of terror, humiliation, and control’. Men were also sexually abused and in at least one case gang raped.
Victims were mutilated, with body parts cut off and used to create depraved scenes gleefully concocted to traumatise those who discovered them.
Those taken hostage were assaulted in front of loved ones and young relatives forced to commit sex acts on each other, an intentional, premeditated strategy of kinocide to destroy family units even after release from captivity.
The report runs to over 180 pages of utterly harrowing evidence, which collates and corroborates previous testimonies – as well as revealing disturbing new accounts.
The Civil Commission, funded by philanthropic organisations and its archive supported by the German Embassy in Israel, examined over 10,000 photographs and videos of the attack totalling more than 1,800 hours of visual analysis.
Testimonies, geolocation imagery, text messages, media reports and open source intelligence were painstakingly scrutinised. The report found that the abuse was not isolated.
There was a recurring pattern of rape and gang rape; sexual torture; mutilation; targeted shooting to the face, head and genital area; forced nudity; binding and restraint; genital burning; objects inserted into intimate areas; post-mortem sexual humiliation; and execution during or after sexual assault.
When Hamas led other terror groups into Israel they carried Arabic-to-Hebrew phrase lists commanding victims to ‘take off your pants’, ‘lie down’, and ‘spread your legs’.
For Israeli first responders arriving at Nova hours later, it was clear extreme violence, sexual humiliation and mutilation was an intentional, widespread tactic deployed that day.
