Excerpt from an article published in Haaretz on 15 May 2026
The vast majority of responses to Nicholas Kristof’s column about sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees were concerned with one thing – how my side is being traduced, and their side is evil. This is no surprise; it’s such a relief after all to be only the victim (either of sexual violence, or of libel), never the perpetrator. No one should be surprised by now to see people’s tribal emotions reflexively override evidence of our side’s crimes, while clinging to evidence of our victimization.
But another subtext to this debate tends to go unnoticed, yet is highly dangerous: the implication of uniqueness. Understandably inflamed arguments of each side ultimately imply that they are the worst-ever perpetrators, while we are the most abused victims. We are also the most libeled, we are the least believed. By Thursday, Israel even announced it plans to sue The New York Times for defamation.
Why are Israelis and Palestinians so convinced that these crimes are so much worse – and why is that so cruel and damaging?
Truth is dead when it incriminates me
First, the efforts to discredit accusations of sexual violence must be understood – it’s key to the notion that our side is uniquely libeled, victimized and disbelieved.
Each side picked apart flaws in the other, without even considering forensic examinations into the report documenting abuse of “my” people.
There were eloquent, pained declarations that accusations against my side represent a global collapse in evidentiary standards, the death of facts and truth, unprecedented propaganda fabrications, or the death of journalism.
The worst ever
Pro-Israel communities, not to mention the Israeli government’s response to Kristof, argue that bigger lies and libel have never been told about anyone else, and truth standards have never been so low except when accusing Israel and the Jews.
Pro-Palestinian communities have latched onto the most gruesome accusations in Kristof’s report, to make the case implicitly or explicitly that Israel and Israelis are the worst perpetrators of sexual violence in the world.
None of this is true.
Tigray. Sudan. Indonesia. Kosovo. Bosnia. I could go on; claiming uniqueness means that our suffering ranks higher – and counts more – than everyone else’s.
Suffering-supremacy is inseparable from evil-enemy supremacy. The purpose is clear: If your enemy is uniquely evil, then you can justify the most extraordinary measures against it. “Finish the job” against Palestinians in Gaza. Dismantle Israel as a country (whatever that means).
Sexual violence that includes physical mutilation, desecration, torture, family assault, humiliation, infection and destruction mean that any assertion that Israeli- or Palestinian-perpetrated crimes are especially brutal simply dismisses or denies the horrors suffered by multitudes of victims around the world.
Dahlia Scheindlin is a US-Israeli political consultant, pollster, and journalist. She is the author of ‘The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel’ and a regular columnist at Haaretz.
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