Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said in a joint statement Thursday they plan to file a defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer-winning newspaper and columnist Nicholas Kristof.
At issue is his recent front-page opinion piece titled "The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians," in which Kristof claims in graphic detail that Israeli prison guards and others routinely sexually abuse Palestinian prisoners in their custody.
According to him, there is "a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children."
Curtis Houck, managing editor of MRC NewsBusters, says it may be difficult to get a judgement because the legal bar is so high, "especially when it comes to, in this case, public figures."
"It is the highest possible bar you have to meet for defamation," Houck says.
In other words, it is difficult for public figures to win defamation lawsuits. In addition to proving that a statement made against them was false, they must also show that it harmed their reputation and that the outlet or person acted with "actual malice."
That legal standard, which was created by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1964 during the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan case, means the speaker either knew the statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for whether it was true or false.
As AFN has reported, Kristof's piece was published a day ahead of an Israeli report showing the same and worse sexual violence was committed by Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7. Houck thinks the defamation case may still be worth the effort because Kristof and The Times may want to settle out of court rather than have it discovered their piece was meant to blunt the effect of that report.
"The question is would The New York Times want to open themselves up to that set of discovery, where such a conclusion/ revelation could be found?" he poses.
He thinks Trump's recent wins could also work in Israel's favor.
"The president has had success when it comes to cases brought against ABC News and CBS News," Houck notes.
