Israeli Government Prepares to File Strong Lawsuit Against The New York Times

[Financial News] The Israeli government has officially announced that it will file a lawsuit against The New York Times (NYT), which raised allegations of widespread sexual abuse and rape against Palestinian prisoners.
In a joint statement on the 14th local time, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa'ar strongly criticized a column by NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof, calling it "one of the most vile and distorted lies ever published by modern media against the State of Israel."
In his column published on the 11th, Kristof claimed that "a pattern of widespread sexual violence is emerging against men, women, and even children by Israeli soldiers, settlers, Shin Bet investigators, and, above all, prison guards." The column included Palestinian testimony that detainees were forced to undergo strip searches, sexually assaulted with objects, and even raped by trained dogs, triggering a major backlash.
Netanyahu said on his social media account X that he had instructed legal advisers to consider the strongest possible legal action against NYT and Nicholas Kristof.
He condemned them, saying, "They are defaming Israeli soldiers and spreading a 'blood libel' of rape," and added that they were trying to create a false equivalence between Hamas terrorists, who commit genocide, and brave Israeli soldiers. He also said, "We will fight these lies in the court of public opinion and in the courts of law, and the truth will prevail."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel questioned the credibility of the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor report cited in the column. Israeli officials said the group was biased, pointing to photos of its leadership with senior Hamas figures, while the Israel Prison Service dismissed the allegations as "completely baseless falsehoods."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel also raised suspicions that NYT had deliberately timed its reporting. It said Kristof's column was published just before an independent Israeli report was released, a report that said Hamas systematically committed sexual violence during its surprise attack on October 7, 2023. The ministry claimed that it had contacted NYT months earlier and shared the Israeli report, but the paper ignored it and ran a column saying the opposite.
Despite the Israeli government's strong protests and threats of legal action, NYT is reportedly standing by the column and maintaining its position.
As the war in the Gaza Strip intensifies the global battle over public opinion, the dispute is expected to escalate into an unprecedented legal confrontation between a major news organization and state power.

jjyoon@fnnews.com Yoon Jae-joon Reporter