The storm continues: The Times defends the “rape by dogs” column

The New York Times defended in a special column Nick Christoph’s “opinion column” in which allegations of brutal rape by the Israeli security forces against Palestinian detainees were presented – including a case of rape allegedly committed by a dog. The editor-in-chief of the newspaper’s opinion section, Kathleen Kingsbury, clarified that the newspaper stands behind the far-reaching publication and claimed that the article went through a “rigorous fact-checking process”, and that no factual errors were found in further examination after publication.

The column was published in the opinion section of the New York Times – a system separate from the newspaper’s news system. According to many, including journalists at the New York Times, the standard of this system is lower than that of the news system, and therefore it is a puzzling choice to publish a news article in this framework. According to a Puck News report, many New York Times journalists expressed frustration and anger over the “opinion column” that accused Israeli security forces of sexually abusing Palestinian prisoners.

Kingsbury said that “critics who have focused on the background of specific sources have often overlooked the scope and consistency of the evidence.” Christoph claimed that every testimony he presented was supported by a “relative, lawyer, social worker or previous testimony of that person.” That is, sometimes the “crossing of the sources” was done with a more established testimony of the same source.

The two rejected the claims that since some of the sources and organizations cited are linked to Hamas or have a hostile background towards Israel, their testimony should not be believed. “It serves no one to automatically ignore people’s stories because of their identity or beliefs,” Christoph wrote.

The two also wrote that Jewish readers thanked them for publishing the column. Nevertheless, Christoph acknowledged that his column may have contributed to the worsening of the problem of anti-Semitism.

A particularly serious, gruesome and far-reaching claim that appeared in the column is that Israel trained dogs specifically to rape Palestinians, and describes in detail a case where this allegedly happened in practice. Kristof admitted that he hesitated whether to publish this claim, but justified his decision by saying that “he had already told his version in the past, and because what he described happened in the past. Other Palestinian prisoners and human rights organizations reported cases in which dogs sexually attacked prisoners.”

The “opinion column” caused a tremendous uproar in the US and around the world. Israel called it a “blood plot” and Foreign Minister Sa’ar and Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered to sue the New York Times and said it was “one of the most horrific and distorted lies ever against the State of Israel”. Legal experts who spoke to N12 expressed great doubt about the chances of success of such a lawsuit, and made it clear that it faces very great challenges.