"The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians" is an opinion piece published in The New York Times on May 11, 2026, in which journalist Nicholas Kristof recounts interviews detailing alleged widespread sexual abuse committed by Israeli prison guards, soldiers, settlers, and interrogators against Palestinians, especially those in Israeli custody. The premise of the article, which cites reports on sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians during the Gaza war by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and B'Tselem, is that there is a disparity in how allegations of sexual violence are treated when the victims are Palestinian as opposed to when the victims are Israeli. Kristof relied on direct interviews with 14 Palestinians, including nonviolence activist Issa Amro and journalist Sami al-Sai, who reported having been sexually assaulted by Israeli settlers or members of Israeli forces. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the article "Hamas propaganda" and "one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press" and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa'ar announced legal action against The New York Times for libel. The Times said such legal action would be "without merit". The piece elicited strong reactions from supporters of Israel, including protest outside The New York Times Building on May 14. In response to critics of his piece, Kristof called on Israel to permit the Red Cross and lawyers to visit Palestinian detainees. Critics on the opposite side of the aisle also questioned why the story was published in the opinion section, arguing this constitutes a double standard with regard to coverage of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in The New York Times, as articles alleging sexual abuse against Israelis haven been published in the news section. On May 21, Kristof and NYT Opinion head Kathleen Kingsbury responded to questions regarding the article. The same day, the New York Times Opinion and The New York Times accounts on video-sharing networks posted a video with Kristof presenting material from his May 11 column, recordings of interviews with Palestinian survivors of sexual assault by Israelis, and videos and photos of Palestinians being subjected to sexual assault, one of which settlers posted to social media.
Background
Sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians during the Gaza war
Yuli Novak, Israeli human rights activist and executive director of B’Tselem, writes that "abuses in Israeli custody have long been reported by former detainees, lawyers, doctors and journalists, and documented by human rights organizations." In 2025, the United Nations Human Rights Council published "More than a human can bear": Israel's systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since 7 October 2023, which described sexual violence against Palestinians as "standard operating procedures" and "a major element in the ill treatment of Palestinians." In 2025, too, there was media coverage of Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi's resignation and arrest after leaking CCTV footage of sexual assault against a Palestinian prisoner at Sde Teiman detention camp, which was shown on Israeli television on Channel 12. In April 2026, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor published a report entitled Another genocide behind walls: Sexual violence in Israeli prisons and detention centres and engineered impunity documenting sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians during the Gaza war. The January 2026 report Living Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps from B'Tselem also documented sexual violence as a torture method used against Palestinians in Israeli custody.
Coverage of Israel and Palestine in The New York Times Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously threatened to sue The New York Times in August 2025 over an article about starvation in Gaza, but did not follow through.
Content
Kristof writes that there is a disparity in how allegations of sexual violence are treated when the victims are Palestinian as opposed to when the victims are Israeli, and that there shouldn't be. He opens the piece with: "It’s a simple proposition: Whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemning rape."
Sourcing
Reports cited In his opinion piece, Kristof cited previous reports of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinians during the Gaza war, including the 2025 report from the United Nations Human Rights Council, the April 2026 report from Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, the January 2026 B'Tselem report, and the February 2026 Committee to Protect Journalists report.
Palestinian testimonies Kristof wrote that, "this article is based on conversations with 14 men and women who said they had been sexually assaulted by Israeli settlers or members of the security forces", and that he had also spoken to family members, investigators, officials and others." Among the witnesses who agreed to be named were Sami al-Sai, a freelance journalist; Issa Amro, a Palestinian nonviolent activist; Suhaib Abualkebash, a farmer in the Jordan Valley; and Mohammad Matar, a Palestinian official. Kristof wrote that Issa Amro told him "he had been sexually assaulted by Israeli soldiers and that he believed this was common but underreported because of shame." He also shared the testimony of Sami al-Sai, a Palestinian reporter who described experiencing sexual assault from a group of Israeli prison guards.
Israeli testimonies Kristof also cited Israeli American human rights lawyer Sari Bashi, Israeli lawyer Ben Marmarelli, and Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel (2006–2009).
Exposure of children to sexual violence Kristof wrote too that Save the Children "commissioned a survey last year of children ages 12 to 17 who had been in Israeli detention; more than half reported witnessing or experiencing sexual violence."
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