In response to an outcry and accusations of “blood libel” over a recent opinion column detailing alleged systematic sexual abuse of Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli detention, The New York Times on Thursday defended the article, with the newspaper’s opinion editor saying it was “built upon a growing body of evidence.”

In an extensive response to “your questions” published in the outlet’s opinion section, the column’s author, Nicholas Kristof, and Times Opinion head Kathleen Kingsbury, defended the piece amid mounting backlash, including criticisms from the Times’ readership, denials and condemnations from Israeli officials, and an announcement by the Israeli government that it intends to sue the newspaper for defamation.

Kingsbury wrote that Kristoff’s reporting was rigorously fact-checked before publication “to ensure that every testimony and anecdote he personally reported was supported by independent sources.” After publication, she added, “We reviewed the factual challenges that readers and others raised… Editors found no errors.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in a joint statement issued days after the op-ed’s publication that it was “one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press.” The Israel Prison Service called the allegations “false and entirely unfounded.”

The column, titled “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” published on May 11, alleged “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.”

Among the incidents Kristof referenced was the alleged 2024 sexual abuse of a Gazan detainee at the Sde Teiman prison. He also cited testimony from Palestinians who said they were routinely stripped naked in detention, groped and forcibly penetrated with various objects.

Related – ‘Blood libel’: Israel rejects NYT column alleging widespread rape of Palestinian inmates

One of the most controversial testimonies featured in the piece came from a Gaza........

© The Times of Israel