Israel Sues New York Times Over Column on Alleged Sexual Abuse of Palestinian Detainees

The Israeli government announced on May 14 2026 that it would sue The New York Times over a column by Nicholas Kristof that detailed accounts of sexual violence against Palestinian detainees. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar instructed officials that same day to initiate a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper.

Netanyahu posted on X hours after the announcement: “Under my leadership, Israel will not be silent.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry described Kristof’s column as one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press. ” The piece alleged a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet and prison guards.

It was based on accounts from 14 male and female Palestinian victims.

One account described a Gaza journalist who said he was held down, stripped naked, blindfolded and handcuffed while a dog summoned by a Hebrew-speaking handler mounted him. Sami al-Sai, a 46-year-old Palestinian freelance journalist, told Kristof he was sexually assaulted with a rubber baton and carrot while in Israeli detention in 2024.

Mohammad Matar recounted being stripped and poked with a stick by settlers who joked about raping him.

The New York Times stood by the column and denied any discussion of a retraction. Spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander stated on May 13 2026 that the Kristof report is a deeply reported piece of opinion journalism. The accounts of the 14 men and women interviewed by Kristof were corroborated with other witnesses whenever possible and with people the victims confided in, including family members and lawyers, Stadtlander said.

N. testimony, according to Stadtlander. The newspaper cited the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor as a primary source.

Photographs from 2011 show leaders of that group posing with senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh, the Israeli Foreign Ministry noted. New York Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha stated on May 14 2026 that the Israeli threat of a lawsuit is part of a well-worn political playbook that aims to undermine independent reporting. Any such legal claim would be without merit, Rhoades Ha added.

A December 28 2023 New York Times news report had detailed allegations of a pattern of sexual abuse during the October 7 2023 Hamas attacks. Fifty journalism professors later called on the newspaper to investigate that report.

Human Rights Council by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. That commission stated that Israel’s security apparatus had made sexual violence standard operating procedure. A Committee to Protect Journalists report found nearly a third of Palestinian journalists detained by Israel had faced sexual violence.

N. special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, stated in December that Israel has not responded to requests for access for an international independent commission. It remains unclear whether the planned lawsuit will be filed in the United States or Israel.

A government itself cannot sue for defamation in the United States, according to Rodney Smolla, a First Amendment scholar. Netanyahu said in 2025 that he was looking at whether a country can sue The New York Times following a report on starvation in Gaza.