Israel says it will sue New York Times over article on sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners

[highplainsdem]

Source: Guardian

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Nethanyahu, and foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, have threatened to sue the New York Times for defamation over the publication of an essay by Nicholas Kristof detailing allegations that Palestinian women, men and children have been raped and sexually abused in Israeli military detention.

“Following the publication by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times of one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press, which also received the backing of the newspaper, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have instructed the initiation of a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times,” Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs wrote in a social media post on Thursday.

“They defamed the soldiers of Israel and perpetuated a blood libel ​about rape, trying to create a false symmetry between the genocidal terrorists of Hamas and ​Israel’s valiant soldiers,” Netanyahu added in a statement to Reuters. “We will fight these lies in the court of public opinion and in the court of law. Truth will prevail.”

-snip-

Kristof’s interviews with 14 men and women “were corroborated with other witnesses, whenever possible, and with people the victims confided in – that includes family members and lawyers”, said Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesperson for the Times, in a statement posted on Wednesday. “Details were extensively fact-checked, with accounts further cross-referenced with news reporting, independent research from human-rights groups, surveys and in one case, with U.N. testimony. Independent experts were consulted on the assertions in the piece throughout reporting and fact-checking.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/14/israel-sue-new-york-times-sexual-abuse-palestinian-prisoners

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As noted in the article, deeply unlikely to succeed on First Amendment grounds here in the US, and as the kids like to say, discovery in such a suit would be... interesting.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

— John Scalzi (@scalzi.com) 2026-05-14T19:37:21.915Z

[irisblue]

1. See you in court Bibi & Sa'ar

[graycampervan]

10. Bibi

My money is on Kristof.

[Whip-poor-will]

2. Bring it

trump understands you can't fight a (Epstein) film bibi will learn that soon

[Simeon Salus]

3. Discovery might prove a bit embarrassing to Israel

The state threatening to sue the NYT seems mere Trump-like bluster. I'm guessing Kristof has receipts.

[Attilatheblond]

4. What's Bibi gonna do? Have his puppet Trump bomb the New York Times?

Not that Trump wouldn't day dream about doing just that. Alas, poor bully, not all Americans are as easy to intimidate as the Nodding Dotard Trump.

[FadedMullet]

5. "Blood libel"? Sure, Bibi. With the Israeli right wing, it's always a "blood libel". FFS, you guys are libel.

[AloeVera]

6. Gonna sue the U.N, Amnesty and Iaraeli B'tselem too?

A dozen others that have been reporting since early 2024 on the systematic sexual violence at your torture camps ? The Guardian for that matter too, for their June 2024 piece?

Oh I get it. It's the NYT. Bibi's worried about the opinion of Americans he's managed to hoodwink and brainwash till now.

[iemanja]

25. And the Nation

Which published an extensive article on this more than a year ago.

[liberalgunwilltravel]

7. Maybe we should sue

Netanyahu and the rest of his criminal organization for further endangering Jew, both in Israel and throughout the rest of the world.

[eezapata]

8. Too Late Bibi

at this time is already too late Bibi, the people support for israel have gone down a lot. Many countries do not support israel anymore.

[Bayard]

9. Bring it, Bibi

I know which party I believe.

[Martin68]

11. Good luck with that, Bibi. "Blood libel" is sometimes a convenient shield against accounting for actual crimes.

Let's see believable investigation into the charges. We're seeing charges of rape against Israeli soldiers in occupied territories. Hold them to the same standard as Palestinians.

[Aussie105]

12. Israel defending its image as the "Good Guys"!

As if the powers in Israel that run the show know exactly what each soldier in the field or detention center gets up to!

I guess labelling any criticism of Israel as anti-Semitic to stifle criticisms has its limits.

Legal action? Sure, why not!
Got to keep the deceit and deception going!

[Wonder Why]

13. Krasnov School of Lawsuits?

[Pompoy]

14. I used to have a lot of respect for Kristof, but this is nonsense

National Review to the defense of Israel, but he makes more sense than Kristof on this issue.

[Pompoy]

15. But as he says, it's not reporting, it's an opinion piece using bad sources

[Exp]

16. Fuck Israel ! They fucking suck as a country, even WORSE than Trump's USA. eom

[BeneteauBum]

17. Let the truth come out

Peace ☮️

[ToxMarz]

18. Let me guess, the obligatory $10 billion.

[question everything]

19. While pursuing the NYT some may want about the Hamas sexual atrocities

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221239914

[Eko]

21. yup hamas is horrible for doing that.

As is Israel.

[iemanja]

24. So behaving like terrorists is okay with you?

[JT45242]

20. Discovery from civil trial can be turned over to the Hague

Hope all the perpetrators are found, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison with zero chance of parole in some god forsaken frozen hell hole.

[Jimvanhise]

22. IT WAS WIDELY REPORTED RECENTLY

That some israeli soldiers were released without prosecution even though they were caught on video raping a Palestinian woman. Did they think we'd forget?

[iemanja]

23. There Is lots of evidence on this

Including an attempt at prosecuting IDF rapists of boys, only to encounter outrage from the Israeli public. Imagine what kind of person it takes to object to prosecuting violent rapists of minors. Bondi, Trump, MAGAts, and sections of the Israeli public.