Benjamin Netanyahu said his government will file a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times over Nicholas Kristof’s column alleging sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is moving toward legal action against The New York Times after the paper published an opinion column alleging widespread sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners. a dispute that is quickly turning into a direct test of how far U.S.. defamation law can be stretched when the plaintiff is tied to government power.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Thursday that the Israeli prime minister and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar “have instructed the initiation of a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times.” Netanyahu added on X that his legal advisers will “consider the harshest legal action” against the newspaper and journalist Nicholas Kristof.
The column, written by Kristof, cites interviews with 14 men and women who said they had been sexually assaulted by Israeli settlers or members of the security forces. The piece also acknowledged that Kristof was unable to corroborate some of the accounts.
Israeli officials condemned the Times for publishing the report. Netanyahu’s office called it “one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel,” language that underscored how sensitive the allegations are within Israeli political leadership.
The New York Times defended the column on Wednesday night. describing it as “deeply reported piece of opinion journalism.” Charlie Stadtlander. a spokesperson for the Times. said the accounts from the 14 interviewees were corroborated “with other witnesses. whenever possible. ” and with people the victims confided in. including family members and lawyers.. He said details were extensively fact-checked and cross-referenced with news reporting. independent research from human-rights groups. surveys. and. in one case. U.N.. testimony, with independent experts consulted throughout.
It is not yet clear where the lawsuit would be filed, in the United States or in Israel, nor who would be listed as plaintiffs. But legal experts say the choice of forum and the identity of the person suing could be decisive.
Under U.S.. First Amendment principles. a government itself cannot sue for defamation. according to Rodney Smolla. a First Amendment scholar and former president of the Vermont Law and Graduate School.. Smolla said that if Netanyahu or another government official brought a case, they would likely face serious obstacles.
“I think at the end of the day, courts would say this [article] is insufficiently targeting Netanyahu, and to allow him to sue is just too perilously close to allowing a suit by the government itself,” Smolla said.
The New York Times also has experience with a major U.S.. Supreme Court standard that strongly limits public officials’ ability to bring defamation claims.. In New York Times v.. Sullivan, the court constrained what public figures must prove.. Nadine Strossen. a former president of the American Civil Liberties Union. said that whether the plaintiff is Netanyahu or someone else. the case would likely require showing “that there was intentional or reckless falsity. ” with proof that the publisher knew the statements were false or had “great reason to know” they were.
Strossen said the claims could not simply be presented as opinion. “It can’t be a matter of opinion or of analysis or of perspective. It has to be objectively falsifiable,” she said.
Yale Law professor Jed Rubenfeld said he believed the chances of success were minimal.. “I think there is probably zero chance of the suit succeeding. ” he said. adding that criticism of government conduct written without naming specific people responsible could fall within First Amendment protections.
In U.S.. defamation cases involving public figures, plaintiffs generally have to clear a high bar at trial.. They must show actual malice. meaning the reporter or publisher knew statements were false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.. Recent history shows how quickly these disputes can become a lever for broader pressure in the media ecosystem.
In recent years, President Donald Trump has used lawsuits over coverage he disliked to pursue settlements, including against CBS News.. Trump sued CBS News over a 2024 “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.. The network said the lawsuit was “completely without merit” soon after it was filed.. The matter was later settled in 2025 for $16 million with Trump and CBS News’ parent company, Paramount.
There is also precedent from within Israeli politics and U.S.. journalism’s legal exposure.. In 1983, Israel’s then-Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon sued Time Magazine over an article about a massacre in Lebanon.. The case went to trial. and a federal jury found the reporting to be false. but concluded the magazine did not publish with actual malice.
Smolla said Sharon had standing in that case because the defamation he claimed was about him directly.. He also noted that even when a person is not named in the reporting. small groups or categories of individuals implicated by the alleged conduct can sometimes establish standing if they believe they are effectively targeted.
The Kristof column includes a further allegation attributed to a Gaza journalist. claiming he was stripped naked and mounted by a dog while Israeli guards laughed.. Kristof also wrote that Palestinian prisoners and human-rights monitors had cited reports of police dogs being coached to rape prisoners.
Smolla said that if individuals with the specific expertise tied to dog-coaching claims were to bring lawsuits. they “might” be viable plaintiffs. though he said the number of potential claimants with that kind of role would be limited.. Strossen added that even such efforts would face the Sullivan standard’s demands. particularly because individuals were not named in the column.
For now. Netanyahu’s government has signaled intent to pursue legal action. but the details that typically determine whether a defamation case can survive in the U.S.. system—plaintiffs’ identities. the theory of falsity. and whether the published material can be shown to meet the constitutional threshold—remain unresolved.
United States politics defamation lawsuit Benjamin Netanyahu New York Times Nicholas Kristof Palestinian prisoners First Amendment
good luck suing an american newspaper lol
wait so kristof admitted he couldnt even prove half of it and they still published it?? like that doesnt seem right at all, i thought journalists had to verify stuff before it goes out. my cousin works at a local paper and she said you cant just print things people say without checking first
this is honestly just another example of the media trying to destroy israel and nobody talks about it. the nyt has been doing this for years and years going all the way back to like the 80s or whatever and now they just print whatever they want with no consequences and people eat it up because they hate israel anyway. im not even saying the article is wrong or right i just think its funny how its always israel getting dragged and nobody ever writes columns about other countries doing stuff. like where are the columns about that. nobody cares apparently. the whole thing is rigged against them and this lawsuit probably wont even go anywhere because of how american courts work but at least someone is finally pushing back on these people
isnt netanyahu literally on trial himself right now for corruption or something like that so he wants to sue a newspaper while hes dealing with his own legal stuff thats kind of ironic honestly