CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Blood Libels and Sexual Violence: Israel, Palestinian Prisoners and The New York Times

Photograph Source: Ori~ – Public Domain

When the establishment journalism of Nicholas Kristof of that most establishment of papers, The New York Times, draws the ire of a foreign regime, and an unnaturally allied foreign regime at that, a pulse might be detected in the moribund state that is the Fourth Estate.  In his piece alleging a campaign of sexual violence against Palestinians by Israel’s security apparatus, he shines some blistering light on practices long suspected and discussed.  It begins a proposition that, “Whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemn rape.”

With that solemn theme declared, Kristof begins by remarking on the “brutal sexual assaults against Israeli women during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct.7, 2023.”  Members of the US administration and the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had rightly condemned them.  “And yet in wrenching interviews, Palestinians have recounted to me a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children – by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency, and, above all, prison guards.”

Brandishing his credentials as veteran war reporter, he makes it clear that, when writing about sexual violence, he knows what he’s talking about.  Interest in the fate of Palestinian prisoners – especially in that way – was piqued during a visit to the activist and professor of non-violence Issa Amro.  Amro had himself been sexually assaulted and suspected this to be a common practice “but underreported because of shame.”  Interest then shifts to the conditions of incarceration, with something in the order of 9,000 Palestinians being held as of May.  “Many have not been charged but were detained on ill-defined security grounds, and since 2023, most have been denied visits from the Red Cross and lawyers.”

Kristof then........

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