New York Times article details brutal rape of Palestinians. Israel calls it 'blood libel'

Mounted by dogs, penetrated by carrots, and rectums torn by batons. 

These are just some of the harrowing testimonies of the rape of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers, detailed by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in a landmark piece published on Monday.

Middle East Eye revealed similar testimonies last month, from a report titled “Sexual violence and forcible transfer in the West Bank: How the exploitation of gender dynamics drives displacement,” by the West Bank Protection Consortium.

The group documented at least 16 cases involving sexual crimes perpetrated by Israeli settlers and soldiers.

And in March, Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, said in her report to the UN Human Rights Council that "the Israeli prison system has degenerated into a laboratory of calculated cruelty" with acts that include rape of Palestinians with bottles, metal rods and knives.

But for a corporate media giant like the NYT, which has often overlooked and doubted Palestinian narratives, such storytelling is novel, and the Israeli government immediately slammed the decision to run it.

"Today, the  @nytimes chose to publish one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press," the Israeli foreign ministry wrote on X.

"In an unfathomable inversion of reality, and through an endless stream of baseless lies, propagandist Nicholas Kristof turns the victim into the accused. Israel - whose citizens were the victims of the most horrific sexual crimes committed by Hamas on October 7, and whose hostages were later subjected to further sexual abuse - is portrayed as the guilty party."

Kristof, in fact, mentions accusations of rape by Hamas during the 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel right at the top of the piece. 

The organisation that alerted global media to those testimonies ended up withdrawing them, casting doubt on allegations of sexual crimes during the six-hour breach of the fence that day. 

"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," the Israeli foreign ministry said.

"Israel will fight these lies with the truth - and the truth will prevail."

David Shuster, a former personality on Israeli news channel i24, suggested on his X account that the NYT is having discussions to take down the Kristof piece because it's "problematic", but on Tuesday, the public relations arm of the paper refuted the claim.

"There is no truth to this at all," the NYT statement said. "Nicholas Kristof is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has reported on sexual violence for decades, and is widely regarded as one of the world's best on-the-ground reporters documenting and bearing witness to sexual abuse."

Patterns

Kristof qualified his piece by writing within it that "American tax dollars subsidize the Israeli security establishment, so this is sexual violence in which the United States is complicit".

He opens with an interview with a Palestinian journalist who describes being filmed while sexually assaulted by both male and female Israeli soldiers, as they used items like rubber batons to rape him.

The 46-year-old Sami al-Sai recounted being grabbed by the penis and testicles so hard that he would scream for the soldiers to stop. 

Kristof did not shy away from pointing out that decades of the dehumanisation of Palestinians lead to these actions - and also that there are likely many more rape cases than anyone can know, because openly talking about being the victim of sexual assault is deeply taboo in conservative Palestinian society. 

One woman who said she lost consciousness repeatedly from the beatings by Israeli soldiers could not say for certain if she was raped.

"I'd be stripped and beaten several times a day,” she said. "It was as if they were introducing me to everyone who worked there. At the beginning of each shift, they would bring the guys to strip me."

Few victims interviewed by Kristof agreed to be identified by name, but he noted that their testimonies formed a pattern that is evidence of a systematic problem.

He also cited almost every available report by a non-profit organisation that has studied Israeli state sexual violence: Euro-Med Monitor, Save the Children, the Committee to Protect Journalists, B’Tselem, and others. Kristof also interviewed Israeli lawyers who acknowledged that the rape of Palestinians is far-reaching. 

The story bears the hallmarks of an investigative piece, and it is the first time a legacy outlet like the NYT has reported with depth on Israeli sexual violence against Palestinians.

Filed under opinion section

But the reporting is filed under the opinions section, which means it falls under different editorial guidelines separate from those of the daily newsroom. This is an ethical practice employed by most newsrooms, including MEE. 

"I deeply believe the best opinion journalism is based on new reporting, so my columns are rooted in travel and reporting," Kristof wrote on X on Tuesday, responding to critics who asked why the paper would not publish the investigation as a news piece.

"In this case, I saw a story and pursued it, and because I'm a columnist, it ran in the opinion section," he added. 

Many of Kristof's followers - he has more than 1.2 million - didn't find that to be a sufficient answer, regardless of what side they were on. 

"For skeptics, why not agree on Red Cross and lawyer visits for the 9,000 Palestinian 'security' prisoners?" Kristof wrote on X in another post on Tuesday. "If you think these abuse allegations are false, such monitoring visits would be protective. So why not?"

The Israeli government has not allowed the Red Cross to inspect the conditions of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons for years. 

"If the US ambassador visited rape survivors with cameras in tow, if we conditioned arms transfers on an end to sexual assault, we could send a moral and practical message that sexual violence is unacceptable no matter the identity of the victim," Kristof wrote.

"For starters, the ambassador could ensure that those Palestinians who dared to speak for this article are not brutalized again for their courage," he added, referring to US ambassador to Israel and avowed Zionist Mike Huckabee. 

The Israeli foreign ministry continued its attack on the NYT on Tuesday, writing on X: "Months ago, the Civil Commission approached the New York Times with a report on Hamas’ systematic sexual violence on Oct. 7 and after. The  @nytimes said it was not interested."

"Aware of the report and its release date, the night before its release the NYT ran a shameful attack on Israel, belittling Hamas’ sexual crimes. That tells you everything about the NYT's agenda."

CNN's story mentions "a calculated strategy by Hamas" to employ rape against men, women, and children in Israel, and adds that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had endorsed the report.