Headline Roundup • May 13th, 2026
NYT Article Alleging Israeli Sexual Violence Sparks Criticisms From Conservatives, Jewish Writers
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The New York Times Opinion (Left bias) published an opinion by Nicholas Kristof (Left) that alleged a "pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence" against Palestinians and set off a chain of media reactions against Kristof's claims.
Alleged Rape and Assaults by Israeli Prison Guards: Kristof's article largely focused on accounts from Palestinians who were previously detained in Israeli prisons and claimed they were sexually assaulted to a variety of degrees by the prison guards. Though Kristof acknowledged "there is no evidence that Israeli leaders order rapes," he pointed to reports from both the United Nations and the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor that claimed sexual violence has been widely used against Palestinians. Kristof also highlighted an instance in which Israeli soldiers were charged and arrested after security footage showed their participation in sexual abuse of a prisoner, only for their charges to be dropped and to be allowed to return to military service—an act that Kristof categorized as the state "giving permission to rape."
Discrepancies in Stories: A feature published by National Review Opinion (Right) countered Kristof's report, claiming his sources were biased at best or untrustworthy at worst. Citing HonestReporting, a "pro-Israel media watchdog," National Review claimed that the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has documented links to Hamas and a long record of extreme accusations against Israel. National Review and others, like the Free Press (Lean Right), also questioned the validity of some of the sources' testimonies, including Sami al-Sai, because details in his story varied from a previous testimony he gave in early 2025.
Response from Israel: Times of Israel (Center) reported that Israel called Kristof's column "one of the worst blood libels" in modern media. It also reported that Israel's Foreign Ministry alleged that the outlet deliberately published the column right before Israel released its report finding that Hamas used sexual violence in its attacks on October 7, 2023. The Times denied this allegation and defended Kristof's column, saying, "He traveled to the region to report firsthand on the stories of Palestinians who suffered abuse, and his article collects accounts in the victims' own words, backed by independent studies."
Support For Kristof: Following Kristof's article, some members of the European Parliament accused Israel of committing "crimes against humanity."
Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission. Suggest an improvement to this summary.
Featured Coverage of this Story
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...
Columnist Nicholas Kristof published an explosive report in the New York Times on Monday about Israel's alleged use of sexual violence against prisoners as "organized state policy." The piece makes several grave claims about conditions in Israeli prisons, including about the alleged use of trained dogs to rape prisoners.
But media watchdogs have now raised questions about the integrity of the sourcing in the reported opinion column, which relies predominantly on claims from the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor and several individuals with checkered backgrounds.
Samar Hazboun for The New York Times
It's a simple proposition: Whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemning rape.
Supporters of Israel made that point after the brutal sexual assaults against Israeli women during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu and many U.S. senators, including Marco Rubio, condemned that sexual violence, and Netanyahu rightly called on "all civilized leaders" to "speak up."
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