Jerusalem, Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has instructed legal advisers to consider defamation action against The New York Times and journalist Nicholas Kristof over an article alleging sexual violence by Israeli personnel against Palestinian prisoners.
Netanyahu’s legal threat
Netanyahu said on Thursday he had instructed his legal advisers “to consider the harshest legal action” against the newspaper and Kristof, who reported the story from the occupied West Bank.
In a statement, Netanyahu said the article “defamed the soldiers of Israel and perpetuated a blood libel about rape,” and accused it of seeking “to create a false symmetry between the genocidal terrorists of Hamas and Israel’s valiant soldiers.”
He added: “We will fight these lies in the court of public opinion and in the court of law. Truth will prevail.”
Netanyahu did not say where or when a lawsuit would be filed. He also threatened to sue the newspaper last August over an article about starvation in Gaza but did not follow through.
Response from The New York Times
The Times did not immediately respond on Thursday to a request for comment on Netanyahu’s threat.
In a statement on Wednesday, following criticism from Israeli lawmakers, a newspaper spokesman defended Kristof’s article, which includes testimony by a Palestinian who said he was raped by a dog, a claim Israel rejects.
“The accounts of the 14 men and women [Kristof] interviewed were corroborated with other witnesses, when possible, and with people the victims confided in – that includes family members and lawyers,” spokesman Charlie Stadtlander wrote, adding that “details were extensively fact-checked.”
Wider context
The United Nations and rights groups say they have documented the use of sexual violence by both Israel and Hamas since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault on Israel, which triggered Israel’s war in Gaza.
In his article, Kristof, who writes for the newspaper’s opinion section, wrote: “(Our) American tax dollars subsidize the Israeli security establishment, so this is sexual violence in which the United States is complicit.”
What do you think the next steps will be in the dispute between Israel and The New York Times?