The Israeli government announced it is preparing to sue the far-left New York Times for defamation.
“Following the publication by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times of one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press, which also received the backing of the newspaper,” wrote the Israel Foreign Ministry wrote on X, “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have instructed the initiation of a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu later released his own statement on X:
Today I instructed my legal advisers to consider the harshest legal action against The New York Times and Nicholas Kristof. 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. Under my leadership, Israel will not be silent. We will fight these lies in the court of public opinion and in the court of law. Truth will prevail.
On Monday, the Times published a poorly-sourced claim that Israel has trained dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners. A Hamas-connected NGO, two dubious sources, and one disgraced “expert” were all the Times could come up with to back its outrageous smear. The Times did not even report on where or when these alleged crimes happened — you know, the basic details of journalism necessary to verify a story.
The Times, which has previously lied about Israel starving babies and bombing hospitals, published this story as an “opinion” piece by the far-left Nicholas Kristof. My guess is that the opinion page was a deliberate choice made out of fear of this kind of defamation suit. Regardless, even as an opinion piece, on no planet did the story meet anything close to an editorial standard.
And the Times’ sinister goal was obvious: the publication of its Der Stürmer-style dog-rape allegations was deliberately timed to distract from a detailed and superbly sourced report about the extent of the depraved sexual crimes committed by Hamas during its October 7 massacre.
The suit will likely be filed in an Israeli court, which will make enforcing any judgment issued difficult when the Times’ assets are in the United States. As with all defamation suits, the likelihood of Israel prevailing are not great. However, Israel could win a judgment by default if the New York Times chooses not to defend itself in a foreign country. That would save the Times the expense and time involved in a defamation suit, not to mention the release of potentially damning revelations that could come from discovery. But if the Times chooses not to defend itself, even a default judgment would be seen as a moral victory for Israel.
If only from a public relations standpoint, this is a smart move by Israel and Netanyahu, a way to keep the focus and heat on the Times and its indefensible reporting.
Just when you think the American left cannot stoop any lower, the New York Times uses Hamas as a source to accuse the Jooooozzzzzz of training dogs to rape people.