Accused of 'blood libel,' NYT defends column alleging Israeli rape of Palestinian inmates

The New York Times defended a column that alleged Israeli security forces rape Palestinian inmates, as Jewish groups announced they would protest outside the newspaper's Manhattan offices on Thursday over the "libels."

But the Times did not immediately respond to a statement by former prime minister Ehud Olmert accusing columnist Nicholas Kristof of misrepresenting his words so that they appeared to validate the allegations in the Monday op-ed, "The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians."

Israel had slammed the star journalist's column, calling it "one of the worst blood libels" in modern media and assailing its use of a report from an NGO whose leaders have been photographed alongside top Hamas officials.