NYT Exposes Alleged Sexual Violence Against Palestinian Detainees in Israeli Prisons
May 14, 2026
In an article titled “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians,” the report reveals a disturbing pattern of widespread sexual violence against Palestinian men, women, and even children held in Israeli detention.
Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof reveals a disturbing “pattern of widespread sexual violence” against Palestinian men, women, and even children held in Israeli custody.
The report is based on testimonies from 14 Palestinian survivors who described being raped, beaten, and subjected to extreme sexual humiliation by soldiers, interrogators, and prison guards.
Interrogators allegedly used sexual violence to force collaboration. One woman was shown photos of her own sexual assault and warned they would be leaked if she didn’t cooperate with Israeli intelligence.
One man described being raped three times in a single day in an Israeli prison. Another victim recounted being left screaming in pain after a guard squeezed his genitals.
Upon release, many detainees were warned by Israeli officials not to speak to the media, with some told they would be killed or raped if they gave interviews.
The evidence of sexualized torture is now so overwhelming that even mainstream outlets are sounding the alarm. When rape becomes a routine part of imprisonment, it is a blatant crime against humanity that the world must finally address.
Kristof slams the international community for its selective outrage, noting that the same world that rightly condemned the sexual violence of October 7th has remained largely silent as these horrors are inflicted on Palestinians.
Courtesy of @nytopinion
#NicholasKristof #NYT #HumanRights #WarCrimes #Gaza
English Script:
Nick Kristof: When Israel was attacked on October 7th, 2023, officials were quick to condemn the sexual violence of Hamas.
Netanyahu: You’ve heard of the rape of Israeli women? Where the hell are you?
Joe Biden: Women raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies.
Senator Kristen Gillibrand: Uses rape as a weapon of war.
Representative Keith Self: Sexual violence as a weapon of war by Hamas.
Nick Kristof: I went to the West Bank to talk with Palestinians who experienced sexual assault firsthand by Israeli soldiers, settlers and prison guards. Their harrowing accounts backed by lawyers, surveys and international reports suggest that sexual violence by Israelis against Palestinians is widespread. And that raises the question: where is the revulsion against sexual assault now? I don’t see any evidence that Israeli leaders order rape, but they have built a security apparatus where, according to a 2025 United Nations report, sexual violence is a major element in the ill treatment of Palestinians. Prime Minister Netanyahu has called accusations of sexual violence by Israelis baseless. But my reporting suggests that sexual violence has greatly worsened under Netanyahu in recent years. What exactly does this look like? Here’s what I found. This is Sammy al-Sai, a freelance journalist for international news organizations. I spoke to a farmer who recounted how 20 settlers rampaged through Palestinian homes and used a hunting knife that cut off his clothes. The zip ties were still on the ground when I visited. And this is Mohammed Matar, a Palestinian Authority official, who says he was with two other Palestinians trying to protect the Bedouin village under attack from settlers when the settlers seized them, stripped them, beat them. And he says one tried to rape him with a stick. And he actually has some evidence of this interaction with the settlers in the form of a photo that the settlers posted to social media. One woman, 23 at the time of her detention, told me that she was regularly stripped naked, forcibly bent over and groped all over her body by male and female guards. One journalist said he had been held down and raped by a dog, a claim backed by other accounts from prisoners who report they underwent the same thing. I’m appalled by this pattern of abuse, partly because our American tax dollars subsidize the Israeli security forces. I fear that leaves us complicit. The United States has leverage, and we could use it to insist on an end to the impunity and to demand that Red cross visits be restored for Palestinian detainees. Look, whether you consider yourself pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian, here is one thing we should be able to agree on were anti-rape. The horrific abuse inflicted on Israeli women on October 7th now happens to Palestinians day after day after day.
