Michael Goodwin: The Left’s turn against Israel is complete with the NY Times’ latest antisemitic smear

Nypost · 🇮🇷 public Iran · May 16, 2026 · 1152 words · By Michael Goodwin

US Political Polarization Media Bias Israel-Palestine Conflict

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Daily briefing

What to know about US Political Polarization

For those who missed last week’s gutter-level low for The New York Times, here’s a catch-up — and the big picture meaning.

Claims checked 10

Techniques found 5

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center80%

Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

For those who missed last week’s gutter-level low for The New York Times, here’s a catch-up — and the big picture meaning.

Why it matters

The focus is Nicholas Kristof’s bizarre column last Monday that repeated debunked claims that Israeli dogs had raped Palestinian prisoners.

Common ground

Among the landslide of criticism, the most frequent was that the author had swallowed, hook, line and sinker, garbage from sources widely known for peddling Hamas propaganda.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Name Calling / Labeling, Exaggeration / Hyperbole: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this US Political Polarization story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the writer and paper “defamed the soldiers of Israel and perpetuated a blood libel about rape, trying to create a false symmetry between the genocidal terrorists of Hamas and Israel’s valiant soldiers.”?
How does this story connect US Political Polarization with Media Bias over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/05/16/opinion/the-lefts-turn-against-israel-is-complete-…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 5 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

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Loaded Language 100% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

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Name Calling / Labeling 90% confidence

Attaching a negative label to a person or group to reject them without evidence.

Why it matters: Recognizing name calling / labeling helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

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Exaggeration / Hyperbole 85% confidence

Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.

Why it matters: Recognizing exaggeration / hyperbole helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

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Hasty Generalization 75% confidence

Drawing broad conclusions from a small or unrepresentative sample.

Why it matters: Recognizing hasty generalization helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

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Guilt by Association 80% confidence

Discrediting an idea by linking it to a disliked group or person.

Why it matters: Recognizing guilt by association helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 10 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6

info Single Source 2

help Insufficient Evidence 2

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Claim 1: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the writer and paper “defamed the soldiers of Israel and perpetuated a blood libel about rape, trying to create a false symmetry between the genocidal terrorists of Hamas and Israel’s valiant soldiers.””

CORROBORATED

The specific quote and sentiment regarding 'blood libel' and defaming soldiers are reported across multiple news outlets including The Guardian and NTD.

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web search NEUTRAL — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rejected New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's accusations of systematic sexual abuse and rape of Palestinian prisoners, callin…
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2026/05/israels-netanya…

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web search NEUTRAL — The New York Times Building, a tall modern skyscraper, rises above adjacent buildings, viewed from street level. The New York Times has repeatedly defended Nicholas Kristof’s reporting.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/14/israel-sue-new…

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web search NEUTRAL — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is considering suing The New York Times and one of its journalists over a column that alleged Israeli soldiers raped Palestinian prisoners.
https://www.ntd.com/netanyahu-considers-suing-new-york-times…

info

Claim 2: “the well-documented cases of Hamas terrorists raping women and children — and sometimes corpses — during and after the Oct. 7, 2023, invasion.”

SINGLE SOURCE

While the provided evidence confirms Hamas attacked on Oct 7, the specific details regarding rape of children and corpses in this context were not explicitly detailed in the provided search snippets.

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web search NEUTRAL — Hamas is an acronym of the Arabic phrase حركة المقاومة الإسلامية or Ḥarakah al-Muqāwamah al-ʾIslāmiyyah, meaning "Islamic Resistance Movement". This acronym, HMS, was glossed in the 1988 Hamas Covenan…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas

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web search NEUTRAL — 3 days ago · Hamas is a militant Palestinian nationalist and Islamist movement dedicated to the establishment of an independent Islamic state in historical Palestine. The group won an electoral majori…
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hamas

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web search NEUTRAL — Oct 7, 2023 · Hamas is an armed Palestinian group and political movement in the Gaza Strip. On 7 October 2023 it attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyv7w3gdy2o

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Claim 3: “40 of 47 Dem Senators recently voted against supplying Israel with defensive weapons.”

CORROBORATED

Three independent sources (Vox, Briefly, and another news report) confirm that 40 out of 47 Democratic Senators voted to block military hardware/bulldozers for Israel.

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web search NEUTRAL — The most glaring evidence of this shift materialized in the Senate this week, laying bare a deepening chasm. Out of the 47-member Senate Democratic caucus, a staggering 40 senators voted against suppl…
https://belaaz.com/news/shocking-senate-vote-40-democrats-vo…

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web search NEUTRAL — Democratic voters turned against Israel. Now their politicians are following.On Wednesday, 40 out of 47 Democratic senators voted to block a military sale to Israel — far higher opposition than had be…
https://www.vox.com/politics/486053/israel-democratic-party-…

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web search NEUTRAL — "The fact that 40 of 47 Democratic Senators voted to withhold military hardware from Israel is a new high water mark in holding Israel accountable for violating US and international law." "When we sta…
https://briefly.co/anchor/Left_wing_politics/story/40-out-of…

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Claim 4: “Nicholas Kristof’s bizarre column last Monday that repeated debunked claims that Israeli dogs had raped Palestinian prisoners.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources (The Guardian, NTD, Al Jazeera) confirm that Nicholas Kristof wrote a column alleging sexual abuse/rape of Palestinian prisoners, which the Israeli government described as debunked 'blood libel'.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and Israel, fought as part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflicts. The war began on 7 October 2023, when the Palestinian mi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_war

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27, 1959) is an American journalist and political commentator. A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and an op-ed columnist for The New …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Kristof

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The relationship between the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and Israel is a feature of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. For decades, UNRWA has …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNRWA_and_Israel

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 5: “the editors called the column a “deeply-reported piece of opinion journalism” and insisted it “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.””

CORROBORATED

The New York Times' defense of the column as 'deeply reported' and based on 'on-the-record accounts' is reported by Al Jazeera and other news summaries.

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web search NEUTRAL — The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all format…
https://apnews.com/

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web search NEUTRAL — Live news, investigations, opinion, photos and video by the journalists of The New York Times from more than 150 countries around the world.
https://www.nytimes.com/

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web search NEUTRAL — Your trusted source for breaking news, analysis, exclusive interviews, headlines, and videos at ABCNews.com
https://abcnews.com/

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Claim 6: “the Israeli government vows to file a defamation suit against him and the Times.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources report that the Israeli government/Netanyahu is considering or intends to file a defamation suit against Kristof and The New York Times.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Carmel (Hebrew: כרמל) is an Israeli settlement organized as a moshav in the south-east Mount Hebron (Har Hevron in Hebrew) area of the West Bank. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Har Hevron Regi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmel_(Israeli_settlement)

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+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 7: ““A New York Times investigation found a well-organized campaign by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government that embraced Eurovision as a soft power tool, and a secretive contest organizer that was ill-equipped to respond.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of generic homepages for AP, NYT, and ABC News, with no specific article content confirming the Eurovision investigation.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Live news, investigations, opinion, photos and video by the journalists of The New York Times from more than 150 countries around the world.
https://www.nytimes.com/

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web search NEUTRAL — Your trusted source for breaking news, analysis, exclusive interviews, headlines, and videos at ABCNews.com
https://abcnews.com/

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Claim 8: “Consider the photo mistake where it showed a supposedly starving Gaza baby, only to concede after complaints that the baby’s doctor said it was born with health and genetic conditions that affected brain and muscle development.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute this claim.

help

Claim 9: “its story claiming Israel bombed a Gaza hospital killing hundreds of people? It was eventually followed by an admission that the coverage should have been “more journalistically rigorous.””

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute this claim.

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Claim 10: “the column was “extensively fact-checked.””

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources (Al Jazeera, and other news reports) explicitly state that The New York Times claimed the column was 'extensively fact-checked'.

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web search NEUTRAL — The New York Times said Nicholas Kristof’s opinion piece was extensively fact-checked and based on corroborated accounts. People walk by The New York Times building in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., …
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-896131

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web search NEUTRAL — The Times defended Kristof’s work, saying the column was deeply reported, extensively fact-checked and based on 14 on-the-record accounts, corroborated with reports by independent human rights groups.…
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hkaay00nkfg

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web search NEUTRAL — “Details were extensively fact-checked, with accounts further cross-referenced with news reporting, independent research from human-rights groups, surveys and in one case, the UN testimony,” it said.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/14/israels-netanyahu-s…

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.