Within 24 hours, two reports of sexual violence were published. One was backed by 430 testimonies, 10,000 photos, 1,800 hours of video—many taken by the perpetrators—and transparent methodology. The other relied on an organization linked to Hamas that’s known for fabrications. Guess which one dominated the news cycle?
One provided graphic evidence of the gruesome sexual assaults by Hamas against Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023. The other alleged systematic sexual assaults against Palestinian prisoners, using an anonymous source.
In an era when unproven claims against Israel are promoted by biased activists, organizations and journalists, rapidly spread across classrooms, social media and newsrooms, enforcing professional standards and accurate reporting is the only defense against misinformation.
Kristof’s Sources: A case study in abandoning standards
Nicholas Kristof’s recent opinion column in The New York Times alleged that Israeli security personnel systematically used sexual violence, including rape by trained dogs, against Palestinian detainees. All allegations of sexual violence deserve serious investigation. This is why the sourcing behind his claims demands scrutiny. His column relies on sources so compromised that even cursory vetting should have disqualified them.
Kristof’s primary organizational source is Hamas-linked Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, reportedly “created in 2011 to demonize Israel under the human-rights facade.” It is led by Ramy Abdu, a man who falsely claimed that a map of rocket alerts in Israel was actually “a map of registered sex offenders” and presented Syrian civil-war images as Gaza footage. Euro-Med originated the claim that dogs can be trained to rape people—a claim as absurd as the Egyptian conspiracy theory that the Mossad trained sharks to attack tourists. The group also leads influence campaigns to edit Wikipedia articles.
One of Kristof’s main informants, journalist Sami al-Sai, praised the Hamas Oct. 7 atrocities on social media. He previously worked for the Qatar-based news outlet Al Jazeera and accused Palestinian authorities of torturing him in prison, then contradicted his own account to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.
Kristof cited a U.N. report by three officials who all resigned over antisemitic remarks. He also equated Israel’s response to the allegations with Hamas’s denial of its own recorded evidence of violence on Oct. 7, portraying Israel and Hamas as morally equivalent.
Kristof quoted former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to justify his claims. Olmert immediately issued a statement: “I did not validate these claims. The positioning of my quote after pages of allegations misrepresents my views.”
Kristof also stated that “our American tax dollars subsidize the Israeli security establishment, so this is sexual violence in which the United States is complicit,” advancing a political agenda.
Allegations deserve investigation
Like in any country’s prison system, Israel has individuals who commit misconduct. Abuse by individual guards is an unfortunate reality worldwide, including in the United States, but Kristof goes beyond claiming isolated misconduct. He is alleging an orchestrated system by Israeli authorities.
This is an extraordinary claim that requires extraordinary evidence—not activist testimonies laundered through compromised groups with proven histories of promoting propaganda, violence and antisemitism.
Mark Goldfeder, director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, warned: “At a time when Jews are already demonized worldwide, unverified atrocity claims against Israel are instantly weaponized against Jewish students, businesses, synagogues and communities.”
The Israeli military has investigated reported war crimes and ethical misconduct allegations against its soldiers, and has taken disciplinary action when appropriate. Allegations against Israeli soldiers for raping a Hamas terrorist in a separate case collapsed when video evidence was found to be doctored, but the pattern repeated: sensational accusation, global headlines, quiet exoneration, limited follow-up coverage or retraction.
This highlights why credible evidence and transparent investigations are necessary—and why Kristof’s reliance on Hamas-linked sources is indefensible.
Newspaper editors defend the indefensible
The newspaper and its opinion editor defended the column, which is rare for an opinion piece, calling it “extensively fact-checked.” Yet this wouldn’t be Kristof’s first time being “hoodwinked,” as he put it in a 2014 column, apologizing for publishing a sex-trafficking story based on a source who deceived him.
Kristof has strongly defended his column. He acknowledged that Euro-Med’s leader supported the Oct. 7 massacres, yet defended his citation by relying on other organizations and individuals with documented anti-Israel biases. Kristof also defended the inclusion of the dog-rape claims. Another group he included, the Committee to Protect Journalists, quietly removed Hamas terrorists from its list of journalists killed in Gaza.
Days later on social media, Kristof promoted new allegations of rape against pro-Palestinian activists. After Israel detained activists on boats trying to reach Gaza, their group released a press statement promoting multiple claims of sexual violence and rape. Kristof amplified this message, even though he ended his tweet with: “This hasn’t been confirmed.”
Hamas: Documented evidence of sexual violence
The day after The New York Times published Kristof’s column, Israel’s Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children found that sexual violence was “systematic and integral” to the Hamas terror onslaught on southern Israeli communities.
The report, “Silenced No More, Sexual Violence Unveiled,” is not a collection of anecdotes. It is the product of a two-year transparent, independent investigation conducted by researchers, lawyers and trauma experts who cross-referenced testimony across multiple attack sites.
The report documents 13 recurring patterns of sexual violence committed by Hamas and its collaborators, including rape, gang rape, sexual mutilation, genital mutilation, forced nudity, sexual humiliation in front of family members, and the filming and social-media distribution of these acts as psychological warfare. In one documented case, family members were coerced into performing sexual acts on one another. Similar violence continued in Hamas captivity for months.
The contrast between the column and report, published 24 hours apart, is stark. Kristof published unverified claims from individuals with a record of disinformation. The Civil Commission provided survivor testimony, forensic evidence and a methodology transparent enough to be scrutinized. One got a prime opinion slot in a major news publication and a publisher’s defense. The other received substantially less coverage.
Civil Commission video [YouTube]
The double standard also erases Palestinian victims
The international human rights, feminist and news establishment that typically champions survivors largely remained silent when Hamas committed violence against Palestinians. Weeks before Kristof’s column, the Daily Mail and Associated Press reported that Hamas fighters sexually abused Palestinian women, Hamas-affiliated clerics raped Palestinian children and UNRWA workers traded aid for sex in Gaza.
A Palestinian women’s rights advocate admitted on the record: “Most of us prefer to focus on violence committed by Israelis.”
Some 200 protesters gathered outside the Times’ building in Midtown Manhattan after the column was published, with signs reading, “Stop the libels, stop the hate.” Israeli leaders are considering their legal options after calling it a blood libel.
The outcry reflects a broader concern. At a time of rising antisemitism, false accusations against Israel become ammunition for those who already hold American Jews collectively responsible for Israeli government actions.
Points to consider:
1. Big Lie: Repeating false accusations until they become the truth.
Fabricating stories of atrocities about Jews is nothing new. What is surprising is how little pushback came against Kristof’s column from institutions and journalists who value truth and accountability. The false claim that Israeli guards used dogs to rape prisoners echoes historical accusations of sexual depravity and bestiality, repackaged for a modern audience. At a time of pervasive anti-Jewish hatred, this language is weaponized to paint every Jew as complicit in an imagined evil. When prestigious outlets like The New York Times amplify conspiracy theories based on Hamas-linked sources, the message is clear: Some mistruths are acceptable. This is the Big Lie in action: biased activists, organizations and journalists repeating fabricated atrocities until they are accepted as truth.
2. Criticisms of Kristof’s claims are not about silencing allegations.
Kristof relied on a Hamas-linked organization leader who spreads disinformation, a journalist who praised the Oct. 7 massacres and U.N. officials who resigned over antisemitism. The New York Times defended this as “extensively fact-checked.” The criticisms are not that abuse allegations should be ignored or that Palestinians do not deserve dignity. It is that grotesque claims, including dog rape, were published without the evidence required for such explosive allegations. The Times knew that these sources were compromised and doubled down anyway, perpetuating hateful rhetoric that endangers Jewish communities and individuals worldwide.
3. One standard must be applied to all victims of sexual violence.
Every claim of sexual violence deserves investigation, whether the accused is Palestinian or Israeli. But that is not what is happening. Allegations against Israel get worldwide platforms and publisher defenses. Documented abuse by Hamas against Palestinian women and children gets buried. A Palestinian women’s rights advocate admitted on the record: “Most of us prefer to focus on violence committed by Israelis.” This isn’t justice. It’s a double standard that erases victims.
