By now most of us have seen or heard the troubling column by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times accusing Israeli guards of abusing Palestinian prisoners.
Suffice it to say, the allegations should and will be investigated and should they be found to be true, as Ambassador Leiter makes clear, individuals will and should be held responsible.
Below are several responses from the Government of Israel as well as from Haviv Rettig Gur and others in response to the allegations. You are welcome to draw your own conclusions and decide who you wish to believe.
I would only point out that rabbis are trained to read texts critically, and to keep in mind that a primary source Kristof relies upon is Euro-Med Monitor, whose leaders, Ramy Abou and Amzen Kamel have close links to Hamas. We should not suspend our questioning but should apply the same skepticism when reading articles in the New York Times.
Ambassador Yehiel Leiter, who met with the ZRC in DC at our conference points out the source of the allegations:
CLICK HERE for Ambassador Yechiel Leiter on X
CLICK HERE for Haviv Rettig Gur’s response on X:
CLICK HERE for the Response of the Israel Prison Service as reported in the Times of Israel Prison Service: “NYT article alleging widespread rape of Palestinian prisoners ‘entirely unfounded’…”
CLICK HERE for a summary of comments by Gerald Steinberg, of NGO Monitor and others: “Experts slam New York Times column alleging dogs used in sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners…”-JNS
Deborah Lipstadt, former U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, condemned the outlet for publishing the piece, stating, “Have they, the NY Times, no sense of decency and journalistic responsibility?” CLICK HERE
