The New York Times on Friday said Israeli threats to file a defamation lawsuit against it over an article alleging widespread sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees by Israeli personnel and settlers is “without merit,” according to a BBC report.
The U.S. publication responded after the Israeli Foreign Ministry said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the launch of a defamation lawsuit.
It follows the publication on Monday of a column by Nicholas Kristof titled “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” alleging that Palestinian detainees had been subjected to widespread sexual violence by Israeli prison guards, soldiers, settlers and interrogators.
It is not clear how, or if, such a claim by the Israeli state against the U.S. newspaper could be pursued.
Kristof said he interviewed 14 Palestinian men and women who described sexual assaults and other abuse during detention or attacks by Israeli forces and settlers.
