How to pray for Israel in the midst of horrible rape accusations

The truth will come out

Nicholas Kristof, a columnist who regularly covers religion for the New York Times, wrote a stunning accusation about abuse in Israeli prisons, one that makes the U.S. Army’s acts in Iraq’s Abu Grahib look tame by comparison. I want to first note that this was published as a video under the Opinion section. This is important because it places the piece under Kathleen Kingsbury, the Opinion editor. Not to say that Kingsbury doesn’t have chops: she won a Pulitzer at the Boston Globe, where she reached the high position of Managing Editor. In 2016, she edited another Pulitzer-winning piece at the Globe¹.

Gaza attack on Israel, October 7, 2023

Let me also note that in 2016, then-Executive Editor at the Times told NPR’s Terry Gross, “We have a fabulous religion writer, but she's all alone. We don't get religion. We don't get the role of religion in people's lives.” The tone-deafness is apparent, given that Kristof’s piece was published on Monday, May 11, just four days before Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, which is a national holiday in Israel commemorating the reunification of Israel’s capital and the holiest city in Judaism (as well as Christianity), which was won in the 1967 Six-Day War. And today’s Times features a guest essay by Jean-Marc Dreyfus, who is described as a “Holocaust historian at the University of Manchester,” titled “The First Roundup of Jews in Paris, 1941.”

Per the newspaper’s own policies, there is a strict separation between the News and Opinion departments. In 2008, Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt explained: “The Times does have sections for opinion and for news, and their separate editors and writers do not tell each other what to do. [Frank] Rich and [Maureen] Dowd write for the opinion section, and they are paid to have strong opinions, not balanced ones, just as the writers of Times editorials, who are not part of the newsroom, express their predominantly liberal opinions aggressively.”

Nicholas Kristof writes for the Opinion section, and his piece alleging terrible actions, including sexual abuse of a Palestinian prisoner by a dog while the dog’s handler and other Israeli prison workers cheered on and took photos. Kristof alleges “pattern of systemic abuse and ‘unrestrained power’ within Israeli detention centers that challenges the moral silence of the international community.” That’s a strong accusation.

And Israel responded.

Through a spokesperson, they said they were going to sue the Times for defamation. Of course, legally, a nation can’t sue a newspaper for printing an opinion column, even one alleging horrible crimes. However, as Mark Goldfeder at National Review pointed out, the legal part is unlikely to take the form of a simple defamation suit (which would be immediately dismissed). Kristof’s claims are very specific, so specific in fact that Israeli authorities would be able to identify individuals responsible for the abuse in the report. This goes beyond just an op-ed. The Times responded that the piece was corroborated and extensively fact-checked and “deeply reported.”

It’s true that the fact-checking process at the New York Times is the same for the Opinion section and the News section. However, the editorial oversight is different. Opinion writers are given much more room to express…opinions. This includes the quality of the sources, who is offering “corroboration,” and the writer’s own beliefs.

In the case of a story this weighty, it is important that we pray for more than just Israel being protected from harm. The Bible tells us over and over that Jerusalem and Israel are the “apple of His eye” to God, and that anyone who strikes out toward Israel will be judged severely. But also, when Israel sins, God uses its enemies to carry out punishment. In short, what happens to Israel is in the purview of God’s business. It’s always good to pray God’s will for God’s business, but that kind of prayer doesn’t move heaven—God’s plans are God’s plans, not ours.

It is clear that there will be a legal battle, likely in the Southern District of New York federal court, between certain parties in Israel, who believe they have been defamed, and put in jeopardy under Israeli law, and Kristof’s reporting. The legal battle could take years, with the newspaper claiming journalistic privilege of sources, and Israeli authorities demanding subpoenas to release the information as part of discovery in a criminal case.

Of course, an investigation by Israeli authorities into abuse against imprisoned Palestinians is likely the goal of why Kristof wrote his piece in the first place. But it also serves as raw meat and fodder for people who would make moral equivalence arguments between the State of Israel and its terrorist enemies.

We should pray for the truth to come out. If there is this kind of abuse in Israeli prisons (and there are plenty of reports of poor treatment of prisoners, including by the United Nations), then Israel’s government should uncover it, punish those who committed crimes, and apply correctives. We should pray for God’s hand and judgement against those whose hatred for their enemies exceeds their ability to follow God’s moral law.

This kind of abuse is bad not just for the State of Israel, but for Jews around the world. It is a given—to me at least—that the world’s opinion of Jews outside of Israel is largely governed by the gentile world’s opinion of what Israel, the nation, is doing. So if Israeli prison guards are using dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners, the blood libels and antisemitism will rise against Jews in New York, Atlanta, Paris, and especially London.

We should pray that Israel deals with the truth correctly. That if these allegations have any truth, it is exposed and carried out as any civilized western democracy would do. In court, publicly, and with severe punishment.

But if there is nothing but Kristof’s opinion, and trust in his sources, behind the accusations, then this should also be exposed and punished. I am worried on either side of the equation here. That if there’s truth to Kristof’s report, that Israel will try to cover it up, giving its enemies (and enemies of Jews) ammunition in their hatred. But also, if there’s no truth, that the Times will do its best to obfuscate and delay, while protecting Kristof under the U.S. First Amendment. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of the press from government control, but it does not give the press a free pass to blast false accusations because the writer believes people who are telling self-serving lies and propaganda.

It is well known that terrorists masquerade as journalists in Gaza. It is also well known that Hamas and other terrorist groups have incredibly efficient and effective propaganda programs. It is within their capabilities to engineer enough sources and “corroboration” to pass muster with someone whose opinion already stands against the Israeli government’s position. What is needed is hard evidence.

Remember, there are still plenty of people who deny the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023. There are also popular and important media personalities who flirt with Holocaust-denial. While to me and to most people, it’s obvious that Hamas committed atrocities, including rape and infanticide, on October 7, and that the Nazis did indeed murder six million Jews during World War II, plenty of people are more than willing to hear “deeply reported” and corroborated propaganda that these things didn’t happen.

The New York Times and Nicholas Kristof should answer for the truth of these accusations, specifically, and in full. Let law enforcement and Israeli justice determine the responsible parties. But if it turns out that this is simply hearsay and carefully executed propaganda, then Kristof and the Times should answer for it. We should pray that God would apply the necessary conscience and soft hearts to accept responsibility, on either side.

I pray that hearts not be hardened and that paranoia and hate be struck down by moral strength and acceptance of personal responsibility for wrongdoing. If Kristof’s piece is not the truth, then I pray he and his employer will apologize publicly—I know that’s unlikely given newspapers and opinion columnists, but I pray they make an exception. Also, I pray that whatever truth is in the report be accepted by Israeli authorities, and that it lead to better treatment of Palestinians in Israeli prisons (which are run by its military). Terrorists do evil things, and many are evil, but they are still human and they are imbued with the Spirit of God to have a soul and divine light. If they avoid the light and prefer the darkness, that is a matter for God to judge. (And He will.)

We should, above all, pray that hearts turn to God, and not to hate, paranoia, and violence. If it takes a scandal of this proportion to turn Israeli hearts to the God of Israeli let it be so. If it takes a scandal of believing false propaganda in service to bias against Israel, giving the enemies of Jews worldwide a platform to spew their hate, to turn hearts to God and love of His chosen people, we should all pray that the outcome is in God’s hands.

In these troubled times, we should pray that God uses such accusations to bring His truth. Christ is coming, and He is coming for a spotless bride, and He is coming to Jerusalem, a Jerusalem ready to receive Him, saying “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Let it be so.

1. The Boston Globe was acquired by the New York Times in 1993, which sold the paper in 2013 to John Henry, who also owns the Boston Red Sox.