For left-wing Israelis, it was welcome, albeit unsettling. This was exactly the kind of reporting that most news media have refused to publish since 7 October.
That it was the Times that broke the story, a US newspaper heavily criticised for its biased coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, makes it all the more significant.
Under such circumstances, the paper’s decision to publish the story meant that its findings were trustworthy and could not be ignored, even by its pro-Israeli readership.
The New York Times even went so far as to publish what is otherwise investigative journalism as an opinion editorial, it appears, to blunt claims of biased reporting.
Nicholas Kristof’s accounts of assault are horrific. The way they are told reveals a trauma that, even by the standards of Palestinians living under Israel’s brutal occupation and genocide, is unimaginable to endure.
Inevitably, there will be those who cry out, saying, “Where was Nicholas Kristof when Hamas was raping Israelis?”
This is a hypocritical and self-serving standard reply to journalistic coverage of this topic, which defies description yet has become commonplace since 7 October.
Kristof anticipates this, but his way of deflecting it is not ideal: “Whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemning rape.”
Who can argue with that? The issue becomes more complicated, however, when we examine how both sides of the conflict employ sexual assault allegations.
Kristof wanted to avoid the entire controversy over sexual assault on 7 October. However, it is crucial that we note certain differences among the allegations.
The Israeli government helped create the problem by refusing to allow international investigators to examine allegations of sexual assault by Palestinian fighters.
There were many claims, some of which were proven to be fabricated and others which could not be substantiated. Most were devoid of first-hand testimony.
However, there is meaningful evidence that sexual assaults did occur.
In an attack like this, with so many people from various groups, including the crowd storming the breach in the barrier, it would have been shocking if nothing had happened.
It is a sad commentary on humanity, largely on men, that large-scale violence always includes sexual violence unless a very powerful force prevents it.
Thus, by itself, separate from the allegations of rape by Israeli women, we should have no doubt that sexual violence occurred on 7 October.
Hence, the testimony from freed hostages about sexual assault while they were being held in captivity.
Sadly, it’s unsurprising, and it has nothing to do with the fact that their captors were Palestinians, Muslims, Arabs, or affiliated with Hamas.
Being human is the only requirement for some to lapse into such barbaric behaviour.
Though underreported for obvious reasons, sexual violence occurs in every conflict and in every country. The variable tends to be whether combatants are able and willing to prevent it.
It was the framing of this crime as unique to Palestinian culture, as well as the sensationalisation of the crimes, that was problematic.
Such willful demagoguery was one reason Israel wouldn’t cooperate with international investigations. The other reason was that it never does, anyway.
The problematic aspects go further, with ostensible “reports” that rely on anonymous victims’ testimonies and second-hand accounts from acquaintances.
We can expect that victims of sexual assault often do not want to tell their stories because of shame, trauma, or fear. However, the idea that no survivor stepped forward seems dubious, especially given that several freed hostages recounted their experiences.
Most of all, despite Israeli declarations, there is no evidence to support the contention that the sexual assaults on 7 October were in any way coordinated, much less ordered, by Hamas or any other Palestinian official body.
On the other hand, the sexual assault against Palestinians includes direct testimonies published by various outlets, including the Israelis who spoke to Kristof.
More than that, we have testimonies from former IDF soldiers, cases brought to courts by Israeli lawyers or to human rights organisations by victims, and most damning of all, the video evidence from Sde Teiman prison, which showed a violent sexual assault.
The bottom line is that there remains considerable uncertainty about the extent of Palestinian sexual assault against Israelis, although sexual assault has been established with some clarity.
But there is considerable clarity about the sexual assault of Palestinians by Israelis, and Israelis often corroborate these claims.
Yet somehow, the outrage, the anger, and, most importantly, the penalties have been entirely imposed on the Palestinians.
And, in the overwhelming majority of cases, those penalties were enacted against innocent people who had nothing to do with sexual assault or any other crimes committed on 7 October, 2023.
This is the point Kristof is driving at in his article.
The outrage over Israeli allegations of rampant sexual assault on 7 October and after, against hostages held in Gaza, sparked support for, or at least silent complicity in, the genocide in Gaza in Israel, the United States and Europe.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a big show of accusing the world of indifference (though the accusation was completely false, as sympathy for Israeli victims was massive and widespread), and asking, “Where the hell were you?”
Yet, as Kristof puts it, that sort of horrific abuse “…happens to Palestinians day after day. It persists because of silence, indifference and the failure of American and Israeli officials alike to answer Netanyahu’s query: Where the hell are you?”
By now, it feels tiresome, even clichéd, to point out the double standard and the massive gulf in the value we place on Israeli life on the one hand and Palestinian life on the other.
Yet, we can’t stop making that point, because the moment we do, we are agreeing that Palestinian life is of lesser value.
Pro-Israel forces are not getting tired either, even while they lose ground at a rapid pace under the crushing momentum of awareness of Israeli war crimes.
Propaganda outfit Honest Reporting, which attacks any criticism of Israel, wasted no time going after Kristof. Hours after his op-ed appeared, they started a thread on Twitter, accusing him of “journalistic malpractice”.
I won’t bother deconstructing their points. They’re transparent, employing tactics that imply a victim’s politics justify abuse, questioning sources on irrelevant grounds, and conflating two different stories to create an impression of inconsistency.
If you’re familiar with Honest Reporting’s work, or that of similar Israel advocacy groups such as UN Watch, NGO Monitor, and Palestinian Media Watch, you know the drill.
If you’re new to this, take a look at the deep dive I did last year on UN Watch’s “reports” about 7 October to see how this works.
Nicholas Kristof’s sources are, in fact, impeccable. And mostly, they’re Israeli, aside from the testimonies of the Palestinian former prisoners whom Israel victimised.
B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights organisation (full disclosure: I worked for B’Tselem for several years), has done a pair of reports on the Israeli prison system’s use of torture against Palestinian prisoners.
Welcome to Hell came out in 2024 and was followed up with Living Hell in January 2026. Read the reports slowly, and be prepared for some truly disturbing disclosures. But do read them.
Kristof also spoke to Sari Bashi, the executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, who told him, “Rampant sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners is a thing; it’s been normalized.”
The stories are harrowing, but sadly, they are quite familiar to me and to many who follow the plight of Palestinians.
At the risk of repetition, it is crucial to note that these testimonies come directly from the victims. Only a few stories came from Israelis, mostly released hostages.
The Palestinian testimonies include some of the most horrifying accounts, including the use of trained dogs to sexually assault prisoners.
Right-wing Israelis argue that these stories are fabricated.
However, it’s hard to imagine finding so many people willing to recount such humiliation, and having so many of the stories sound so similar, if they were not true.
There needs to be a full accounting of these crimes.
That includes Israel not only being investigated for crimes against Palestinians but also allowing qualified, professional, international investigators to fulfil their missions.
Investigators need to be able to speak to survivors of sexual assault on 7 October and gather their testimonies.
If there are significant numbers of survivors, as the Israeli government claims—and surely there are some—then it is criminal that Israel has obfuscated or barred them from seeking accountability on their own.
It appears that these victims’ only utility is the use of their trauma to justify colonisation and genocide, rather than as a basis for legal redress.
All of it must be brought to light, to the fullest extent that victims are willing to allow.
Surely, as Nicholas Kristof suggests, we can all agree that, regardless of the ethnicity or national identity of the victim or perpetrator, these crimes must not be tolerated or concealed.
Photograph courtesy of Joel Schalit. All rights reserved.
