New York Times Opinion Column Draws Internal Questions Over Allegations

Staff members at the New York Times are questioning allegations in a Nicholas Kristof column that described widespread sexual abuse of Palestinians by Israeli prison guards. The column included an allegation that Israel trains dogs to rape Palestinians.

According to the New York Post, a civil war has erupted inside the New York Times over the column. " Puck News stated that this kind of sloppy, uncorroborated material would not have cleared the paper's newsroom standards.

2019, the New York Times published an allegation of sexual misconduct by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in its Sunday Review section. Reporters Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly wrote that Kavanaugh had exposed himself to another student at a Yale party in the 1980s.

The article omitted that the alleged victim said she did not remember the incident. After the omission was noted, editors added a note stating that the female student declined to be interviewed and friends say that she does not recall the incident. The same 2019 article was part of promotion for a book by Pogrebin and Kelly.

The book reported that a woman named Leland Keyser said she was told behind the scenes that certain things could be spread about her if she did not comply with the story of Christine Blasey Ford. Vanity Fair reported that Pogrebin and Kelly initially pitched the story to the news side but were told to pitch it to the Review instead.

The Times declined to comment on why the story was not considered news-pages-worthy.