The Media's Double Standards on Rape in the Middle East

The New York Times published a detailed accounting of rape against Palestinians. An unreliable Israeli nonprofit put out a report on sexual abuse against Israelis. And all hell broke loose.

On Monday, New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof published a heavily sourced article detailing horrific sexual abuse Palestinians have suffered at the hands of Israeli guards, soldiers, settlers, and interrogators.

And, for some reason, many of the most powerful people in the U.S. are painting Kristof as the villain.

Kristof interviewed 14 men and women who say they’d been sexually assaulted by Israeli settlers or Israeli forces. He also spoke with family members, investigators, officials, human rights groups, and lawyers who have represented Palestinian detainees. It is important to note that Palestinians themselves, along with scores of human rights groups, have for years said much of what Kristof conveys in his piece.

And in a story focused on Palestinian pain, Kristof went to extraordinary lengths to present balance – even bookending the article with claims of sexual abuse carried out by Hamas (claims which have sometimes lacked the first-person testimonial and evidence that Kristof and other international bodies have cited in reporting on Israeli sexual abuse against Palestinians).

Still, the balance was not enough for many of his interlocutors.

Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer said it’s “almost as if the NYT is on Hamas’ payroll” (before re-posting his tweet without that phrase). The Israel Foreign Ministry said the piece was part of a “politically driven smear campaign by a biased paper designed to support efforts to blacklist Israel,” saying the “disgusting shameful piece must be removed immediately.” It announced on Thursday that Israel will sue the Times for defamation over the piece. Pro-Iran war conservative commentator Mark Levin called the piece “disgusting blood libel,” complaining that it’s “too bad countries and armies can’t sue for libel.”

Former President Joe Biden’s antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt amplified a post that compared the New York Times to the Nazi tabloid Der Stürmer and seemed to support executing Kristof.

The Free Press, National Review, CNN’s Scott Jennings, and many more joined the chorus, unhesitatingly acting as rape denialists, and consequently, as cheerleaders of the state actors accused of it.

But what of the actual substance of the piece?