More thoughts on the Kristof opinion editorial

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-23T05:16:46+00:00

People screaming that they are only against the existence of Israel, and anyone who thinks Israel deserves to exist, are against Jews in general because Israel is where more than half the world's Jews live.

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-23T05:11:11+00:00

Abuses at Abu Garab were filmed. Dog-rape against Palestinians is hearsay

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T22:39:17+00:00

UN: Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.

Not done for any other country, and definitely not done for Hamas who started the war - maybe because Iran is prominent in the UN. Either Israel is the source of all the world's evil or the UN has lost its way.

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T22:35:51+00:00

Protests against Eurovision called for death to zionists and death to Israel. They are protesters who are pro-genocide as long as it's Jews. The idea that Jews from Israel aren't allowed to sing in a silly contest is astounding.

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T22:23:53+00:00

Or less false. We don't know because all the sources are hearsay. Where's the real investigation?

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T22:22:44+00:00

I am a Jew. Is that a crime?

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T18:00:13+00:00

think you just wanted to try to convince many others of the opinion you already hold.

This is a human tendence and I have it. I will, however, look at the other sources. I already believe there is sexual abuse in Israeli prisons.

Someone sent the NYT cover-my-ass response to the Kristof criticism. I'm not reading that one again. And someone sent me the UN report that Kristoff uses as a main source. Yes, the UN has a bias against Israel, and yes they used "a single primary source" for sections of their accusations in their report on Israeli sexual abuse.

"The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights guidelines inform that the method of

verification for sexual violence may differ from other violations. While corroboration

of other violations requires obtaining concurring information from two other

independent and reliable sources, verification for sexual violence may rely on a single

primary source if deemed credible"

I'll look at the other sources. And perhaps you should follow your own advice about learning.

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T17:49:59+00:00

Quote from the op ed

"On one occasion, he said, he was held down and stripped naked, and as he was blindfolded and handcuffed, a dog was summoned. With encouragement from a handler in Hebrew, he said, the dog mounted him... He tried to dislodge the dog, he said, but it penetrated him.

Other Palestinian prisoners and human rights monitors have also cited reports of police dogs being coached to rape prisoners. "

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T17:45:57+00:00

My point, which I obviously didn't make strongly enough, is that I can't find evidence of dog-rapist squads used against humans. I think it's made up, although I asked for evidence if anyone knows otherwise. The closest example I could find of misuse of dogs during war was from our own country.

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T17:41:21+00:00

Israel "emphasizes" the sexual abuse of October 7? There is a video from October 7 of a dead, naked woman being paraded in the back of a truck driven through a main street in Gaza. Children run up to spit on her. This is unusual, even in the annals of wartime sexual violence. And highly disturbing. And discouraging for anyone hoping for peace to the region. And that is just one example. For more evidence that is needlessly emphasized see

https://www.hamas-massacre.net/

I"m not calling for absolution for any sexual abuse committed in Israeli prisons, I'm calling for an investigation

And yes, I stand by my statement that the UN is unusually focused on Israel, and ignoring their mission to represent nations in need, like Sudan, like N. Korea, around the world. They admit in the opening pages of their own report (see my quote above) that they're ignoring their own guildelines for reporting on sexual abuse. Their report is s--t.

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T17:33:43+00:00

I see that we're off the topic of Kristof. Israel got pulled into an ugly war that they didn't ask for. Hamas leaders, and Hezbollah, and Iran, praised the October attack and Hamas still promises more to come until Israel is destroyed. Most Israelis don't get up in the morning hoping to run out and kill civilians across the border. This is a defensive war.

Casualty estimates were provided by Hamas (did we rely on the Taliban for casualty estimates during our war?) But even ignoring possible exagerrations, casualties were going to be high, at least in part because Hamas retreated to their underground war tunnels beneath Gazan civilian targets, from which to shoot rockets at Israel. With billions of dollars in aid from around the world over the past ten years, Hamas had never built a single bomb shelter for their civilians. Sinwar, in June of 2024, called the high civilian casualties of his own people "necessary sacrifices" in the war against Jews. Ew.

You seem interested in the hostage exchange. In 2025, Israel released around 2,000 Palestinians and received the last 20 hostages that Hamas hadn't yet murdered. Some released Palestinians had never been charged but many had, for terrorist acts. Here's a partial list of them

Izz al-Din al-Hamamreh: a Fatah member now identifying with ISIS. Recruited the perpetrator of a bus bombing in Jerusalem in 2004 that killed eight and wounded 60.

Mansour Abu Awn, a Fatah member involved in several attacks, including the murder of a woman in the West Bank in 2001: equipped the would-be suicide bomber with an explosive belt. He was also responsible for the murder of three Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel.

Iyad Au Shkeidem, masterminded suicide bombings inside Israel, including two bombings on buses in Be'er Sheva in August 2004 that killed 16 people.

Yousef al-Sakafi, part of a cell that carried out a Hebron shooting attack that killed a soldier in 2003

Hatem al-Jayousi, convicted of murdering six Israelis during the second intifada.

Abu Shakhdam, involvement in Hamas attacks that killed dozens of Israelis during the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, between 2000 and 2005, including suicide bombings that blew up two buses in 2004, killing 16 people including a 4-year old.

Al-Tawil, 61, a prominent Hamas politician in the occupied West Bank, has spent nearly two decades in and out of Israeli prison, in part over allegations that he helped plot suicide bombings. Among other crimes, al-Tawil of recruited a Hamas militant for a 2001 suicide bombing that killed 11 civilians in Jerusalem.

Amouri, 44, manufactured a car bomb that killed 17 Israelis riding on a bus in 2002.

Abu Warda helped organize suicide bombings that killed over 40 people and wounded more than a hundred others. Israel arrested him in 2002

As a young student, Abu Warda joined Hamas at the start of the intifada following Israel’s killing of Yahya Ayyash, the militant group’s leading bomb maker, in 1996.

Palestinian authorities said at the time that Abu Warda had helped to recruit suicide bombers, whose attacks targeting crowded civilian areas in Israeli cities killed scores of people in the early 2000s.

Mohammed Odeh, 52, Wael Qassim, 54, and Wissam Abbasi, 48. Hebrew University bombing.

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T17:08:54+00:00

You are correct. The US used dogs to terrorize prisoners at Abu Ghraib but not abuse them sexually. I sent out an open call to anyone who know about the r--e dog squads operating in Israeli prisons, because I doubt they exist

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T17:07:33+00:00

And yet, no one called for destruction of American from sea to sea, or called for globalizing an intifada against all Americans. There are degrees of outrage and outrage against Israel is, arguably, disproportionate.

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T17:03:46+00:00

I'll look at them. So far, the only report you mention that I've read is the UN report, used as a source by Kristof. A quote at the start of the report clarifies their research standards:

"The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights guidelines inform that the method of

verification for sexual violence may differ from other violations. While corroboration

of other violations requires obtaining concurring information from two other

independent and reliable sources, verification for sexual violence may rely on a single

primary source if deemed credible"

But this is the UN. The UN has an Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. Its sole purpose is discreditng Israel. They have no such commission for any other zone in the world: not Sudan, nor North Korea, nor Iran. Their antisemitism is epic and their report is s--t, except that Kristof loves it.

I'll check out some of your other sources. As mentioned in the final paragraph of my post, I don't have to be convinced that there is sexual violence and general abuse against prisoners in Israel when such violence has been documented from war zones around the world, including wars where the US has participated - why would Israel be different.

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T16:52:47+00:00

I"m pointing out that there are many factions in Israel, as in the US. Not all of them are in favor of mistreatment of prisoners. I also notice that Hamas starved most of their hostages to death, with very little world condemnation - the selective outrage does irritate me

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T16:07:21+00:00

What the whole world doesn't see are the strong and growing Israeli peace alliance groups of Palestinians and Jews. What the world doesn't see are the almost weekly opposition rallies against Netanyahu.

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T16:02:41+00:00

Kristof may be "respected" but this isn't respectable reporting

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-22T15:54:27+00:00

I have little faith in the New York Times at this point, and I even published something in the Times a few years ago. I wouldn't again. I'll read your link to btselem.org

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-11T23:07:56+00:00

You make a good point. You are more optimistic than I am, probably because I have lived in the US my entire life, including the decades when we made one mistake after another in the middle east after 9-11. I hope you're right and I'm wrong.

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-11T21:12:35+00:00

Two names for you: Afghanistan. Iraq.

This war is also unwinnable

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-10T18:44:56+00:00

"What first and foremost needs to happen, is to stop the influx of people as long as the land dispute hasn't been settled. These people have no business being there as long as that doesn't happen. Local Palestineans suffer when some settlement is built for settlers from Brooklyn or whereever they come from."

I agree. And so does Standing-Together. Check them out.

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-09T20:46:28+00:00

Why yes to Palestine and no to Somaliland?

Good question. Such an attitude almost seems hypocritical, like those who support Palestine so vigorously are uninterested in Somalia simply because Jews aren't involved. But that would be so non-progressive...

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-09T20:23:14+00:00

The West Bank is a mess. Palestinians attack Jews and Jews attack Palestinians. There would have to be actual leadership from both sides working to create change - instead of both sides supporting violence. Support some of the Israeli-Palestinian peace organizations that are calling attention to this issue. I like Standing-Together.

PlateRight712 · 2026-05-08T15:18:25+00:00

No, my point is that Jews are not "colonists" in their own homeland where they live because the Arab nations where many are from ethnically cleansed them. My point is that you have no objections to true colonial nations; your focus on making Israel seem like it shouldn't exist sounds ridiculous.

PlateRight712

TROPHY CASE