May 26, 2026
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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 a Hamas-linked organization 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.
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 façade.” 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 Qatar’s Al Jazeera and accused Palestinian authorities of torturing him in prison – then contradicted his own account to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.
Kristof cited a UN 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 U.S. – 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.
The Times Defends the Indefensible
The newspaper and its opinion editor defended the column – very rare for an opinion piece, calling it “extensively fact-checked.” Yet, this would not 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 Kristof ended his tweet with: “This hasn’t been confirmed.”
Hamas: Documented Evidence of Sexual Violence
The day after the NYT 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 assault.
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 10/7 attack sites.
The report documents thirteen 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.
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 womens’ rights advocate admitted on the record: “Most of us prefer to focus on violence committed by Israelis.”
Accountability
Two hundred protesters gathered outside the Times headquarters 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.
The goal is not just to correct one column – it is to hold news organizations accountable for what they report.
New York Times Columnist Speaks Up
On May 20, New York Times Opinion columnist Bret Stephens published “Hatred of Israel and the Degradation of the West,” addressing a pattern he has observed over 25 years covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Writing days after his colleague Nicholas Kristof’s column, Stephens catalogs a history of inflammatory stories about Israel that collapsed under scrutiny – from the Muhammad al-Durrah case in 2000 to the 2023 Gaza hospital explosion.
His core observation:
“The common thread in these and many other stories is that they all involve strenuous, if ultimately embarrassed, efforts to prove that Israelis deliberately seek to kill the innocent and maim the vulnerable, apparently for no other reason than gratuitous cruelty. This isn’t a matter of reporters’ impartially trying to expose wrongdoing wherever they find it – if that were the case, the errors wouldn’t invariably lean in the same ideological direction. It isn’t speaking truth to power. It’s feeding narratives to the credulous.”
Stephens argues the obsession with Israel has warped Western institutions – journalism, human rights organizations and academia – causing “minds that have lost the capacity to think dispassionately and critically.” He notes the recent Civil Commission report documenting Hamas’s systematic sexual violence “received little attention,” while asking: “When was the last time you heard of an American campus protest against the treatment of Kurds by Turkey or the genocide in Sudan?”
His conclusion: “Moral judgments should be made about Israel according to the same standards by which we judge other countries faced with similar circumstances. It’s when Israel is demanded to be a saint – and then, as it invariably falls short, is damned as the worst sinner – that we lose our sense of perspective and proportion.”
JAHM Week 5 Focus: The Mid-20th Century, 1926-1975
Spotlight: Mel Brooks — Comic Legend and Jewish-American Icon
Few figures in American entertainment have made the world laugh quite like Mel Brooks — or done so with such a distinctly Jewish sensibility:
Click here to learn more about Mel Brooks and other Jewish Americans who have shaped American culture and comedy.
ABOUT JAHM: This year, Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) celebrates the extraordinary contributions of Jewish Americans – from before the American Revolution to the present day – across the sciences, music, arts, sports, literature, military, business, and civic life. Formally recognized by the U.S. government since 2006, JAHM also promotes education about Jewish history and combats antisemitism.
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This content is developed by The Focus Project in partnership with MERCAZ USA. The Focus Project distributes weekly news and talking points on timely issues concerning Israel and the Jewish people, including antisemitism, anti-Zionism and the delegitimization of Israel. It represents a consensus view across a spectrum of major American Jewish organizations. MERCAZ USA recognizes and respects the diversity of views on these issues among its readers and the community at large.
