The giant New York Times has thrown itself enthusiastically into the effort to criminalize Israel.
This time, on May 11, it did so through a column by Nicholas Kristof, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist celebrated for his reporting on the Darfur genocide. Even there, however, Kristof faced criticism for allegedly casting himself in the role of the heroic “white savior,” entering Sudan on a tourist visa accompanied by guides. He was also accused of embellishing or inventing parts of his reporting, including the story of a Chinese girl supposedly sold into prostitution at age 13 and rescued by him.
Kristof’s sources are often activists from NGOs or, as in the current Palestinian case, individuals deeply involved in political militancy or worse.
For some time now, based initially on an Al Jazeera interview with a Hamas Health Ministry official and later amplified by the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor—an organization accused of direct Hamas affiliations—claims have circulated accusing Israel of abusing Palestinian prisoners.
Now comes the grotesque allegation involving the sexual use of dogs. The claim defies common sense, biology, and even the judgment of many experts who consider the use of animals in this manner impossible. But absurd accusations against Israel are hardly new. In the past, Israel has been accused of training sharks and eagles to attack Palestinians.
The State of Israel itself has now filed a complaint against The New York Times, a newspaper that has consistently shown a willingness to host nearly every libel connected to the war.
In 2025, the paper prominently featured the now-infamous image of a starving Palestinian child photographed by Pulitzer Prize winner Saher Alghorra. The child, Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, was later revealed to suffer from a severe genetic illness unrelated to starvation. The paper eventually issued a correction.
So why continue? Why escalate to dogs, relying on highly questionable witnesses?
Because the war against Israel increasingly follows a familiar historical script: the blood libel.
The progression has been clear. First came apartheid, a weak accusation repeatedly contradicted by the reality of Arab Israeli life. Then genocide, despite the fact that Gaza’s Palestinian population has continued to grow. Even former International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan ultimately distanced himself from some of the more extreme genocide rhetoric.
Then came the famine accusations, despite hundreds of aid trucks entering Gaza, many of them looted by Hamas.
Still, the NYT continued amplifying every criminalizing narrative: the alleged hospital “massacre” later shown to have been caused by a Hamas rocket misfire; exaggerated casualty narratives; endless insinuations detached from verified evidence.
Now, with the canine abuse story, the escalation becomes almost pyrotechnic.
Its purpose appears obvious: to morally equate Israel with Hamas and blunt the horrifying, documented truth of the Oct. 7 massacre—including the systematic rape, torture and murder detailed in the newly released 300-page official report on Hamas atrocities.
If you cannot erase the horror of Oct. 7, 2023, then portray the Jews as monstrous as their murderers.
This mechanism has existed for centuries. It is called inversion: accusing the Jews of the very crimes committed against them.
It is an old pathology, one that echoes through history from medieval blood libels to modern antisemitic conspiracies.
But if you construct such distortions long enough, eventually you look in the mirror and see only yourself reflected back. Perverse. And foolish.
