Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, threatened on Thursday to sue for defamation over an essay by Nicholas Kristof that detailed allegations of rape and sexual abuse of Palestinians in Israeli military detention.
The dispute landed in public view after Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs posted on social media that Netanyahu and Sa’ar had instructed the start of a defamation lawsuit against the paper. Netanyahu told that the essay defamed Israeli soldiers and spread a blood libel about rape, adding: “We will fight these lies in the court of public opinion and in the court of law. Truth will prevail.”
The essay, published in the Times opinion section on Monday, described allegations that Palestinian women, men and children were raped and sexually abused in Israeli military detention. It said the abuse involved Israeli prison guards, soldiers, settlers and interrogators, and in some cases dogs. The confrontation is now the latest test of how far a government can go in challenging reporting it says is false while a major news organization says it has done the work to stand behind it.
said on Wednesday that Kristof’s reporting had been defended repeatedly over the past few days. Charlie Stadtlander said interviews with 14 men and women were corroborated with other witnesses whenever possible, and that the details were extensively fact-checked and cross-referenced with news reporting, independent research from human-rights groups, surveys and, in one case, U.N. testimony. He said independent experts were consulted throughout the reporting and fact-checking process.
Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokesperson for the paper, said the threat was part of a political playbook meant to undermine independent reporting and stifle journalism that does not fit a preferred narrative. “Any such legal claim would be without merit,” she said. The challenge, though, is not just political. It is legal. And legal experts who commented on the issue questioned whether a government can even bring such a defamation case.
David A. Logan said there was no chance a U.S. court would countenance such a case, while Mark Stephens called the idea of Israel suing “ludicrous.” He added that libel is about hurt feelings, being shunned and isolated as a sentient being, and said the dispute is as much about politics as law, with courts alert to the difference.
It is not clear in which jurisdiction Israeli officials would file any lawsuit, or whether defamation claims could be brought by a government at all. That uncertainty leaves the threat hanging over an argument that has already moved from the opinion pages to a broader fight over credibility, power and who gets to define what is false.
