Berl Falbaum
It is time – again – for The New York Times to take out its mea culpa pad.
Shortly after the war broke out between Israel and Hamas following the October 7 massacre, The Times ran a story, implying that Israel was responsible for killing 500 civilians in a bombing near a hospital in Gaza.
The story wasn’t true; a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was responsible and The Times apologized, stating:
“…Times editors should have taken more care with the initial presentation, and been more explicit about what information could be verified.”
Well, they could rerun that same apology for a recent piece by Nicholas Kristof who charged in a column that Palestinians have told him that there is “a pattern of widespread Israel sexual violence against men, women and even children…” by Israeli settlers, IDF soldiers and prison guards.
It is a gripping column titled, “The Silence that Meets the Rape of Palestinians.” I will spare readers the emotional trauma by not quoting the alleged offenses.
But let’s parse Kristof’s column from an objective journalistic standpoint.
• He writes that the column is based on “conversations” with 14 men and women who claimed to have been sexually abused. Only a couple are named, and he accepts the charges because he talked to family members, lawyers, witnesses and “others.” None of this, of course, adds up to corroboration and I am confident readers would like to know who are the “others.”
• In some cases, he says, it was possible to corroborate the stories “in part” by talking to witnesses and to whom the victims confided in. Which parts could not be corroborated we are not told.
• He adds, “In other cases [corroboration] was not possible, perhaps because shame left people reluctant to acknowledge abuse…” True, “perhaps,” but “perhaps” the abuses did not happen.
• He finds accusations that Palestinians may have “fabricated” stories of sexual assault “farfetched…” Would that be anymore farfetched than blaming Israel for the 500 civilian deaths in the bombing near the Gaza hospital?
• Perhaps the most egregious libel comes when he writes, “The horrific abuse inflicted on Israeli women on October 7 now happens to Palestinians day after day.” Please, read that again: Israel perpetrates October 7 on Palestinians every single day. This doesn’t even come from his “sources,” some of whom, it was reported, have ties to Hamas. Kristof knows this is true.
And his conclusion comes in the same column that also reports that “it is impossible to know how common sexual assaults against Palestinians are.”
Which is it — frequent or uncommon?
The column reminds one of Guardian political columnist Arwa Mahdawi, a vociferous critic of Israel, who once wrote:
“All of which is to say: we have absolutely no idea how many people have been killed in Gaza.”
Then, immediately, she added: “While numbers don’t matter for the purpose of proving a genocide, (no, you’re not wrong, that does not make sense), I would bet my own life that the number is much higher than the 60,000 figure media outlets report.”
After telling us no one knows how many died in the Gaza war, Mahdawi even found a professor, Devi Sridhar, an American public health researcher and chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, who told her the death toll at the end of 2024 would be 330,000. Mahdawi wrote her article at the end 2025 when the death toll stood at 70,000.
Back to Kristof.
In one paragraph, for instance, he tells us of one Palestinian prisoner who suffered serious injuries from assaults by Israeli guards, and investigators obtained a prison video “purportedly” showing the abuse.
Yes, I am as confused as you are, dear reader. Who are these investigators and, more important: “Purportedly” showing abuse? Obviously, Kristof did not see the video, so is it unfair to question Kristof’s journalistic unethical conduct on this alleged incident?
Moreover, journalists do not report on “purported” crimes and omitting attribution when leveling serious charges violates a basic reportorial principle covered in Journalism 101 courses. Kristof is free to believe what he wants, but his obligation as a journalist is to report on what he can prove not what he believes may be true.
Yes, Israel needs to do more to control violence by settlers against Palestinians; it should temper some inciteful language used by members in Netanyahu’s administration; some discriminatory policies need to be changed and discarded.
Kristof acknowledges that, “There is no evidence that Israeli leaders order rapes.” Thus, the crimes he alleges must be committed by rogues in the military and prisons, and they, indeed, need to be held accountable if — but only if — the charges are found to be true.
If Kristof has proof of the misconduct he alleges has been committed, he has a professional and moral obligation to air them — and I would be among the first to defend him. But he must do so, ethically, honestly, and with the highest standard of professionalism.
Compare Kristof’s views to a previous column on Israel that appeared on The Times’ editorial pages containing the following:
Israel has given “…its Palestinian citizens more rights than most Arab nations give their citizens. Israel’s courts, media freedom, and civil society are models for the region, and there is something of a double-standard:
Critics pounce on Israeli abuses while often ignoring prolonged brutality against Moslems from Yemen to Syria, Western Sahara and Xinjiang.”
Somewhat the opposite of what Kristof wrote, right? Hang on… and sit down before you read the following: it was written by Kristof in December 2023. Yes, really.
The tabloid journalism displayed by Kristof in his latest column on such a serious issue needs to be condemned even by critics of Israel. Sadly, Times’ editors not only failed in saving Kristof from himself, but they failed journalism generally by not “taking more care in publishing Kristof’s presentation.”
Shortly after the war broke out between Israel and Hamas following the October 7 massacre, The Times ran a story, implying that Israel was responsible for killing 500 civilians in a bombing near a hospital in Gaza.
The story wasn’t true; a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was responsible and The Times apologized, stating:
“…Times editors should have taken more care with the initial presentation, and been more explicit about what information could be verified.”
Well, they could rerun that same apology for a recent piece by Nicholas Kristof who charged in a column that Palestinians have told him that there is “a pattern of widespread Israel sexual violence against men, women and even children…” by Israeli settlers, IDF soldiers and prison guards.
It is a gripping column titled, “The Silence that Meets the Rape of Palestinians.” I will spare readers the emotional trauma by not quoting the alleged offenses.
But let’s parse Kristof’s column from an objective journalistic standpoint.
• He writes that the column is based on “conversations” with 14 men and women who claimed to have been sexually abused. Only a couple are named, and he accepts the charges because he talked to family members, lawyers, witnesses and “others.” None of this, of course, adds up to corroboration and I am confident readers would like to know who are the “others.”
• In some cases, he says, it was possible to corroborate the stories “in part” by talking to witnesses and to whom the victims confided in. Which parts could not be corroborated we are not told.
• He adds, “In other cases [corroboration] was not possible, perhaps because shame left people reluctant to acknowledge abuse…” True, “perhaps,” but “perhaps” the abuses did not happen.
• He finds accusations that Palestinians may have “fabricated” stories of sexual assault “farfetched…” Would that be anymore farfetched than blaming Israel for the 500 civilian deaths in the bombing near the Gaza hospital?
• Perhaps the most egregious libel comes when he writes, “The horrific abuse inflicted on Israeli women on October 7 now happens to Palestinians day after day.” Please, read that again: Israel perpetrates October 7 on Palestinians every single day. This doesn’t even come from his “sources,” some of whom, it was reported, have ties to Hamas. Kristof knows this is true.
And his conclusion comes in the same column that also reports that “it is impossible to know how common sexual assaults against Palestinians are.”
Which is it — frequent or uncommon?
The column reminds one of Guardian political columnist Arwa Mahdawi, a vociferous critic of Israel, who once wrote:
“All of which is to say: we have absolutely no idea how many people have been killed in Gaza.”
Then, immediately, she added: “While numbers don’t matter for the purpose of proving a genocide, (no, you’re not wrong, that does not make sense), I would bet my own life that the number is much higher than the 60,000 figure media outlets report.”
After telling us no one knows how many died in the Gaza war, Mahdawi even found a professor, Devi Sridhar, an American public health researcher and chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, who told her the death toll at the end of 2024 would be 330,000. Mahdawi wrote her article at the end 2025 when the death toll stood at 70,000.
Back to Kristof.
In one paragraph, for instance, he tells us of one Palestinian prisoner who suffered serious injuries from assaults by Israeli guards, and investigators obtained a prison video “purportedly” showing the abuse.
Yes, I am as confused as you are, dear reader. Who are these investigators and, more important: “Purportedly” showing abuse? Obviously, Kristof did not see the video, so is it unfair to question Kristof’s journalistic unethical conduct on this alleged incident?
Moreover, journalists do not report on “purported” crimes and omitting attribution when leveling serious charges violates a basic reportorial principle covered in Journalism 101 courses. Kristof is free to believe what he wants, but his obligation as a journalist is to report on what he can prove not what he believes may be true.
Yes, Israel needs to do more to control violence by settlers against Palestinians; it should temper some inciteful language used by members in Netanyahu’s administration; some discriminatory policies need to be changed and discarded.
Kristof acknowledges that, “There is no evidence that Israeli leaders order rapes.” Thus, the crimes he alleges must be committed by rogues in the military and prisons, and they, indeed, need to be held accountable if — but only if — the charges are found to be true.
If Kristof has proof of the misconduct he alleges has been committed, he has a professional and moral obligation to air them — and I would be among the first to defend him. But he must do so, ethically, honestly, and with the highest standard of professionalism.
Compare Kristof’s views to a previous column on Israel that appeared on The Times’ editorial pages containing the following:
Israel has given “…its Palestinian citizens more rights than most Arab nations give their citizens. Israel’s courts, media freedom, and civil society are models for the region, and there is something of a double-standard:
Critics pounce on Israeli abuses while often ignoring prolonged brutality against Moslems from Yemen to Syria, Western Sahara and Xinjiang.”
Somewhat the opposite of what Kristof wrote, right? Hang on… and sit down before you read the following: it was written by Kristof in December 2023. Yes, really.
The tabloid journalism displayed by Kristof in his latest column on such a serious issue needs to be condemned even by critics of Israel. Sadly, Times’ editors not only failed in saving Kristof from himself, but they failed journalism generally by not “taking more care in publishing Kristof’s presentation.”
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