Israeli Authorities Plan to File Defamation Lawsuit Over New York Times Op-Ed

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Associated Press Logo text

Israeli officials are preparing to sue The New York Times for defamation over a column documenting rape and sexual abuse of Palestinians in government detention facilities.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have instructed the “initiation of a defamation lawsuit” against the paper, the Israel Foreign Ministry said in an X post on Thursday.

The Times “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,” added Netanyahu.

The saga leading up to the legal threat started on Monday when the paper published an op-ed from Nicholas Krisftof in which 14 men and women alleged sexual violence by Israeli military forces and prison guards. “The Palestinians I interviewed recounted various kinds of abuse beyond rape,” the story reads. “Many reported that they often had their genitals yanked or were beaten on the testicles. Hand-held metal detectors were used to probe between men’s naked legs and then smashed into their private parts; some men had to have their testicles amputated by doctors after beatings.” The report also cites several surveys corroborating claims of sexual violence.

After publication, Israel’s Foreign Ministry accused the Times of timing the piece to undermine a government report published the following day on alleged sexual violence against hostages in Gaza during the Hamas attack in October 2023.

On Thursday, Netanyahu said he directed his legal advisers to “consider the harshest legal action” against the Times. It’s unknown where and when a lawsuit will be filed, if at all.

Last year, the prime minister threatened to sue the paper over its coverage of the hunger crisis in Gaza. “I’m actually looking at whether a country can sue The New York Times,” he said in an interview on Fox News. “And I’m looking into it right now, because I think it’s such a — it’s such clear defamation. I mean, you put a picture of a child that’s supposed to then represent all these supposedly starving children, yet they put in this picture of a child who has cerebral palsy.”

Following the threat, the paper put an editors’ note in the story that a child suffering from malnutrition also had “pre-existing health problems.” In a statement at the time, it said, “Attempts to threaten independent media providing vital information and accountability to the public are unfortunately an increasingly common playbook, but journalists continue to report from Gaza for the Times, bravely, sensitively, and at personal risk, so that readers can see firsthand the consequences of the war.”

If litigation is initiated, the paper could look to subpoena communications, detention records and testimony from officials.