Former Israeli PM accuses NY Times of misrepresenting his comments in viral prisoner dog rape story
Note: This story contains graphic allegations of sexual violence.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is pushing back against The New York Times after he was quoted appearing to validate explosive allegations of systemic sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners.
A report authored by Times columnist Nicholas Kristof went viral Monday outlining abuse claims from 14 men and women who say they were "sexually assaulted by Israeli settlers or members of the security forces." The allegations range from abuse of genitalia to penetration by a dog.
"To try to make sense of what I found, I called up Ehud Olmert, who was prime minister from 2006 to 2009," Kristof told readers. "Olmert told me he didn’t know much about sexual violence against Palestinians but was not surprised by the accounts I had heard."
Kristof went on to quote Olmert, who said, "Do I believe it happens? Definitely. ... There are war crimes committed every day in the territories."
However, Olmert took exception to the placement of his quote, which was placed toward the bottom of Kristof's report.
"Mr. Kristof's article includes claims of extraordinary gravity: that Israeli authorities have directed the rape of children, that dogs have been used as instruments of sexual assault, that systematic sexual torture is state policy. I did not validate these claims," Olmert said in a statement obtained by The Free Press.
"I have no knowledge supporting these claims as I said to Mr. Kristof. Therefore, the positioning of my quote after pages of such allegations misrepresents my views."
A spokesperson for The New York Times told Fox News Digital, "Mr. Olmert was one of many people that Nick Kristof spoke to for his column, offering the former Prime Minister the context and overview of what he was writing. Olmert's quote was given on the record, tape-recorded and is presented accurately and in appropriate context to readers."
The report drew heavy backlash from critics, with many questioning the credibility of Kristof's sources, some of whom are vocal supporters of the terrorist group Hamas that carried out the Oct. 7 attack. Others called it "propaganda."
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has condemned the report, calling it "one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press."
"In an unfathomable inversion of reality, and through an endless stream of baseless lies, propagandist Nicholas Kristof turns the victim into the accused. Israel — whose citizens were the victims of the most horrific sexual crimes committed by Hamas on October 7, and whose hostages were later subjected to further sexual abuse — is portrayed as the guilty party," the Israel Foreign Ministry wrote on X.
"This publication is no coincidence. It is part of a false and well-orchestrated anti-Israel campaign aimed at placing Israel on the U.N. Secretary-General’s blacklist," it added. "Israel will fight these lies with the truth — and the truth will prevail."
The Times defended Kristof amid the mounting criticism.
"Nicholas Kristof is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has reported on sexual violence for decades and is widely regarded as one of the world’s best on-the-ground reporters documenting and bearing witness to sexual abuse experienced by women and men in war and conflict zones," Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander wrote.
"He traveled to the region to report firsthand on the stories of the Palestinians who suffered abuse, and his article collects accounts in the victims’ own words, backed by independent studies."