May 15, 2026
Reuters
Israel plans to sue The New York Times and one of its journalists for defamation over an article that said Israeli soldiers, prison guards and settlers had used widespread sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday he had instructed his legal advisers "to consider the harshest legal action" against the newspaper and Nicholas Kristof, a veteran journalist who reported the story from the occupied West Bank.
"They defamed the soldiers of Israel and perpetuated a blood libel about rape, trying to create a false symmetry between the genocidal terrorists of Hamas and Israel's valiant soldiers," Netanyahu said in a statement.
