Israeli PM Netanyahu initiating defamation lawsuit against New York Times over controversial ‘dog rape’ story

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The Israeli government will initiate a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times over columnist Nicholas Kristof’s controversial "dog rape" story, the Israel Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday. 

Kristof penned the controversial piece headlined, "The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians," that features men and women alleging "brutal sexual abuse at the hands of Israel’s prison guards, soldiers, settlers and interrogators." Many critics blasted it as "propaganda" and poked holes in the reporting, specifically a claim that dogs have been trained to sexually assault Palestinians. 

"Following the publication by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times of one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press, which also received the backing of the newspaper, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have instructed the initiation of a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times," the Israel Foreign Ministry wrote.  

The New York Times did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment but issued a lengthy statement Wednesday evening defending the story.

"Nicholas Kristof’s deeply reported piece of opinion journalism starts with a proposition to readers: ‘Whatever our views of the Middle East conflict, we should be able to unite in condemning rape.’ He draws together on-the-record accounts and cites several analyses documenting the practice of sexual violence and abuse conducted by various parts of Israel’s security forces and settlers," Times spokesman Charlie Stadtlander wrote.

Stadtlander continued, "The accounts of the 14 men and women he interviewed were corroborated with other witnesses, whenever possible, and with people the victims confided in — that includes family members and lawyers. Details were extensively fact-checked, with accounts further cross-referenced with news reporting, independent research from human-rights groups, surveys and in one case, with U.N. testimony. Independent experts were consulted on the assertions in the piece throughout reporting and fact-checking."

The Times has now issued multiple statements standing by the piece. 

This is a developing story, more to come…