New York Times says claims it would retract article about sex abuse of Palestinian inmates are false

THE NEW YORK Times has said claims that it would retract an article about “widespread” sexual violence by Israeli prison guards, soldiers and settlers against Palestinian detainees are false.

On Monday, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff published an article titled: “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians.”

In the article, he said Palestinians recounted 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”.

Yesterday, US journalist David Shuster claimed that “there are already discussions” within the New York Times about retracting the article.

He claimed there were “issues with source credibility and lack of evidence”.

However, Kristoff replied on the social media platform X to say that these claims were “completely untrue”.

The New York Times then officially responded to say that “there is no truth to this at all”.

It described Kristoff as “one of the world’s best on-the-ground reporters documenting and bearing witness to sexual abuse experienced by women and men in war and conflict zones”.

The New York Times added that Kristoff had travelled to the region to “report firsthand on the stories of Palestinians who suffered abuse”.

The article was based on testimonies gathered in the occupied West Bank from 14 men and women who said that they had been sexually assaulted by Israeli settlers or members of the security forces.

Advertisement

One man recounted that he was raped by a dog and the article stated that “human rights monitors have also cited reports of police dogs being coached to rape prisoners”.

According to Kristoff’s article, “there is no evidence that Israeli leaders order rapes.”

However, he also cited a United Nations report released in March last year that describes sexual violence as one of Israel’s “standard operating procedures”.

One of the cited victims spoke of how he was sexually assaulted with a rubber baton and another on how he was left screaming in pain after a woman guard squeezed his genitals.

Israeli authorities ordered prisoners to remain silent about their treatment upon their release, the UN report added.

Israel’s foreign ministry claimed Kristoff’s article was “one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press”.

“In an unfathomable inversion of reality, and through an endless stream of baseless lies, propagandist Nicholas Kristof turns the victim into the accused,” it said in a statement on X.

Kristoff wrote on X that the assault victims were “warned not to speak of what they endured”.

“They were sometimes told they would be killed or raped if they gave interviews, but they found the courage to do so,” he added.

He said three children who had been detained were among those who told him that they had been sexually abused.

“Sexual assaults were horrific when Israeli women were targeted on Oct. 7, and they’re equally horrific when Israeli authorities use them against Palestinians day after day after day,” said Kristoff.

-With additional reporting from © AFP 2026 

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Learn More Support The Journal