Israel, Gaza, and the Weaponization of Sexual Violence w/ Aaron Maté

Added: 2026-05-22

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[00:00:55]>> [music] >> Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Thursday, May 21st, 2026. Aaron Maté joins us now. Aaron, thank you, my dear friend, uh for accommodating us. What is the story, as you understand it, behind the long and detailed and well-documented piece in the New York Times by Nicholas Kristof, uh documenting the horrific weaponization of the sexual abuse by uh Israeli jailers to and upon Palestinian prisoners of such magnitude and regularity that Israeli political leadership must know about it.

[00:01:49]There's so much to say about it. First of all, it's worth noting that it's in the op-ed section by Nick Kristof, a opinion writer, not in the news section.

[00:01:56]Why is that? Why wasn't uh uh New York Times um editors assigning this important story of systemic sexual violence by a close US ally to a team of reporters rather than an individual op-ed writer taking it on his own and putting it in the op-ed page much too late. We're talking about 3 years into the genocide. This has been known for a very long time.

[00:02:20]So, it's interesting that that was in the op-ed section versus the New York Times decision early on in the genocide late 2023 to publish that article Screams Without Words, which alleged a mass rape campaign by Hamas on October 7th which was as myself and Max Blumenthal and others have shown, a complete fraud. There was nothing to go on there. No witnesses uh a bunch of or at least no credible witnesses. Those who claimed to be witnesses were shown to be lying. There was no forensic or physical evidence.

[00:02:52]And there was even this attempt by the New York Times to use a dead Israeli woman killed on October 7th as the symbol of sexual violence by Hamas, even though her own family, who were featured as the cover image in the story, afterwards came out and said that they were used and betrayed by the New York Times and that there's no way that their daughter or sister was the was the victim of sexual violence because they spoke to her right before she was killed. So, the New York Times published a complete fraud in the news section to basically paint Hamas and Palestinians as barbarians who couldn't be negotiated with. That was the goal of that Screams Without Words article. And an actual reported piece with actual witnesses and actual survivors of sexual violence who are Palestinian, uh that gets put in the op-ed section.

[00:03:38]And Nick Kristof, by the way, before he goes into uh uh giving us the voices of of these sex survivors of Israeli sexual violence he of course endorses the October 7th propaganda that just is unsubstantiated. And um and I think that's unfortunate on his part that he felt the need to prop up a fraud, which was the October 7th mass rape hoax, in order to report the truth, which is Israeli >> withstanding, let me just jump in for a minute. Not withstanding his his proposing or supporting a fraud, the Israelis, particularly the Netanyahu government, are livid at him over this piece. And not withstanding the fact that it's not a news piece, it's a it's an opinion piece.

[00:04:27]Without getting so graphic that the people that host the show ban us, how bad is this stuff?

[00:04:36]Well, Kristof spoke to more than 10 people who have been sexually assaulted and raped and raped by Israeli soldiers and prison guards and has their direct testimony. And it's harrowing. And it's been documented in multiple reports over the years. This is nothing new. And is it any surprise? I mean, this this is a government that's been practicing torture for years. We just saw top Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir share footage on social media of his his forces manhandling flotilla activists from around the world who were on ships apprehended by Israel at sea, kidnapped because they were trying to break the blockade of Gaza. And Itamar Ben-Gvir is flaunting how his forces openly beat these people. So, is there any surprise that this is how the Israeli government acts towards Palestinians when there are no cameras there to even document their atrocities?

[00:05:29]And funnily enough, Netanyahu came out and said that he was considering threatening to sue the New York Times.

[00:05:36]And everyone was so confident that this was going to happen. And Israel supporters were were were sort of gleeful at the prospect of Israel soon taking the Times to court. Which of course, what happened to that? Of course, they're not doing that. A, they can't anyway because a government can't sue a newspaper. Uh but B, if they tried, then Israel's actual record would be on scrutiny in the court of law. There's no way Israel would ever voluntarily submit its record to scrutiny. So, that was a lot of hot air from Israel and its supporters. And those threats have have quickly dissipated.

[00:06:08]They just can't tolerate even for one article in an op-ed section who document their actual record, which is horrendous.

[00:06:18]Has um as an aside, since you mentioned them, has Ben Gvir been indicted by the ICC for war crimes?

[00:06:29]I didn't follow the latest, but I but I did I do know that there was a a there was talk of that. I don't actually don't know if that's been handed down yet. Sorry, I haven't followed the latest. A friend of mine uh who's an academic in Poland Yeah. uh just wrote to me and said there's a big dispute going on as to whether they can permit Ben Gvir inside Poland to visit Poland.

[00:06:55]I don't know why there'd be this dispute, and I don't know why it's going, but I responded by saying they should let him in and then arrest him and bring him to Brussels or wherever the ICC is. But uh I was assuming that there was this uh this charge against him. Didn't Netanyahu uh slap uh Ben Gvir on the wrist for this sub-brutalization of the flotilla people, who are the most innocent, meek people on the planet?

[00:07:19]Yes, despite Netanyahu previously ordering attacks on the flotilla, demonizing the flotilla members as terrorists and so forth, after global outrage spread about Itamar Ben Gvir, who by the way, uh the reports are that they're seeking an arrest warrant for him, but it hasn't been publicly announced yet. That's >> Okay. That's the latest. Uh yes, Netanyahu pretended to uh rebuke Ben Gvir for this video.

[00:07:43]And what happened was simply he was embarrassed at a top Israeli minister openly flaunting the abuse of foreign nationals.

[00:07:50]They get away with doing it to Palestinians, but when you're openly flaunting to the world your abuse of foreign nationals, unarmed people blindfolded, handcuffed, yeah, that embarrassed Netanyahu. So yes, the Israeli government came out and and rebuked Ben Gvir and you've all these Israeli officials and apologists saying that this is not the face of Israel, but it is.

[00:08:11]They're just upset that it got out to the world and that Ben Gvir was too brazen about flaunting it. When um Netanyahu and company were furious at Nick Kristof's piece, did they write another piece which recounted all the things that you and Max and others have disproven? In other words, did they attempt to rehash the debate about the abuse of Israelis on October 7th?

[00:08:38]Yes, right after the Nick Kristof piece appeared.

[00:08:42]The so-called Civil Commission of Israel, which is not a commission, it's headed by literally one person, put out this report recycling all the previously debunked claims, relying on the previously debunked witnesses alleged witnesses. I shouldn't call them witnesses because actually they didn't witness anything. They claim to be witnesses, but so many of their claims have already been rebuked. Some of the people cited in that so-called Civil Commission report were people who claimed that there were dozens of beheaded babies on October 7th, which has already been debunked. So the same report relies on them. It actually was prepared for publication months ago.

[00:09:17]This report, it was finalized months ago, but they only released it now and I suspect that that was in response to the Kristof piece to try to diffuse some of the fallout, the outrage that resulted from that. Because there's absolutely nothing new in here, but again, predictably, so many people treated that in corporate media treated this as credible, uh as as serious when it's just recycling claims that have previously been debunked.

[00:09:46]There's a long list. I mean, one example, just take one example. This New York Times article, Screams Without Words, it cited a a so-called witness identified by the name of Sapir.

[00:09:56]And Sapir claimed, in a really cartoonish uh account, that uh she saw uh three women being beheaded, Palestinian militants carrying the severed heads, and also saw um a Palestinian militant slice off a woman's breast and and play with it. I mean, these are just cartoonish, ridiculous things that aren't humanly possible, and you think there'd be even a shred of evidence for it. And the with this three severed heads claim, the problem with it, and The New York Times didn't bother to check this, no one ever no Israeli police officials ever talked about any any any severed heads. There was There was nothing to support that. There were never any severed heads found. If you read all these Israeli media accounts, they acknowledge this. There There were no severed severed heads. Uh but The New York Times just printed this anyways that this was serious. And then after Max and I and others, Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, pointed this out, Jeffrey Gettleman, The New York Times uh writer of Screams Without Words, the lead one, he wrote a follow-up article responding to unnamed critics. He didn't identify He didn't name us. He just uh spoke about critics as if they're this abstract concept, not not specifically having to link to our articles which refuted him. Anyway, so he did sort of obliquely respond to us.

[00:11:13]And then he he threw in the most extraordinary claim. He said that he spoke to Israeli officials, and they told him, "Oh, yeah, by the way, we found three severed heads."

[00:11:22]Uh but then but then but then Gettleman says, "But they offered no further details."

[00:11:27]So, basically, this New York Times reporter, this fraudster, he got somebody in Israel to tell him, "Yeah, don't worry. We found three severed heads, but we're not going to provide any further details cuz they can't cuz there are none cuz it's fake."

[00:11:38]So, he basically concocted a claim to justify his initial fraud. And the New York Times has let this stand, but there's been so much disarray inside the New York Times over this. It was reported that there was going to be a New York Times podcast taking seriously Gettleman's article, but the people involved in the New York Times podcast production couldn't do it cuz they knew it was such a fraud. So, in short, yeah.

[00:12:00]No, all right. Go ahead. Go ahead, please.

[00:12:02]>> Well, internally there's awareness that this is a fraud.

[00:12:05]But yet, they still haven't recanted it.

[00:12:07]And funnily enough, when Nick Kristof in his in his article says that there was sexual violence on October 7th, what you do normally when you're making an explosive claim like that is you link to evidence, especially if your own if your own newspaper has produced it. But Nick Kristof does not link to Jeffrey Gettleman's "Screams Without Words" to support his claim that there was sexual violence by Hamas cuz I think he knows that it's a fraud as well. They just won't admit it cuz it's one of those stories that's too big to fail. Is it fair to say that uh Ben Gvir and uh and Netanyahu are aware of what goes on in the prisons? Of course it is.

[00:12:40]Of course it is.

[00:12:41]When you have in Nick Kristof's case 14 witnesses on record, survivors talking about what they experienced, uh when you have this being pervasive, when you have that infamous case, and we've talked about this before on your show, at Sde Teiman prison where Israeli soldiers were caught on videotape raping, sodomizing a Palestinian prisoner, and the only person to be held accountable for that was the prosecutor who was punished for trying to bring charges.

[00:13:12]The only person who was penalized for the documented rape of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli soldiers was the Israeli prosecutor who tried and failed to charge those soldiers. And she failed to charge the soldiers because after this came out, Israelis held protests defending the soldiers who were caught raping the Palestinian prisoner. They were They were Some of the soldiers went on TV and were treated as national heroes.

[00:13:39]And the prosecutor was chased out and actually tried to commit suicide because how how she was treated for trying to bring some accountability.

[00:13:49]I want to play a clip for you of Trump on on the tarmac yesterday in which he says, you'll hear this, he'll do whatever I want him to do referring to Netanyahu. And then I'm going to ask you if Trump has this in reverse. But watch this. Chris, cut number six. What have you said to the the Prime Minister Netanyahu about Iran and how long to to hold off on strike?

[00:14:14]>> He'll do whatever I want him to do. He's very very good man.

[00:14:19]He'll do whatever I want him to do and he's He's a great guy. To me, he's a great guy.

[00:14:25]Don't forget he was a wartime Prime Minister.

[00:14:28]And he's not treated right in Israel in my opinion.

[00:14:33]So, does he have that in reverse?

[00:14:35]Netanyahu will do whatever Trump wants or Trump will do whatever Netanyahu wants him. What do you think Trump is talking about Netanyahu is not treated right in Israel?

[00:14:45]Well, on the latter, he's referring to Netanyahu's endless corruption saga where where he's facing charges and Trump has openly called for him to be pardoned and he's frustrated that the Israeli president hasn't listened to him because Trump also said on that tarmac that he could be Prime Minister of Israel, that he has 99% support there and he might do that after he leaves the presidency to go run for the leadership of Israel, which would be appropriate given that he's done everything Netanyahu has wanted him to do so far. So, while he claims now that Netanyahu will do what he wants, if you look at Trump's record, it's everything Netanyahu has wanted him to do including going to war on Iran, which was the result of Netanyahu's lobbying campaign in convincing Trump that this would go very well. And look, I actually believe that if Trump changed his mind changed US policy and tried to do serious diplomacy with Iran, Netanyahu would have to fall in line. I just don't think Israel has the leverage over the US to be able to compel it to do its bidding. But so far, Trump's record has been to do exactly what Israel wants.

[00:15:49]And there are many reasons for that. I I I do think Trump shares in this sort of bipartisan animus towards Iran going back to the revolution when the US was humiliated when a US-backed dictator, the Shah, was overthrown.

[00:16:01]There was the hostage crisis.

[00:16:03]Trump's been vocal about that for a very long time and sort of wanting to punish Iran for that. But then you also have the fact that he's received hundreds of millions of dollars from people like Miriam Adelson and Paul Singer uh and feels beholden to them and has bragged about doing their bidding as well, not just Netanyahu's, but bragged about doing the bidding of pro-Israel oligarchs inside the US. So so far, he's done everything that Israel wants.

[00:16:26]He's claiming now to be engaging in diplomacy with Iran, but he's not.

[00:16:29]There's no way I think Trump is capable of making a deal with Iran cuz that would require being somewhat serious about diplomacy, recognizing Iran's sovereignty, uh recognizing that he's lost in his effort to overthrow the government. And I just don't think he's able to do that. So everything I see him doing here when he talks about uh you know, making a deal with Iran and don't worry, Netanyahu will fall in line. I think he's just stalling for time to avoid making a decision. I don't know [clears throat] why the Iranians would trust Trump after the uh two duplicitous negotiations, one in June uh and one in uh one in February.

[00:17:05]Uh let me raise this. Our friend and colleague uh Ray McGovern, um the most anti-war person you want to meet, fears a false flag from Netanyahu Uh if Trump begins if it begins to look seriously like the US is going to stop the war and have an amicable relationship with Iran. Would the Israelis do that? Would they attack the United States and make it look like it came from Iran?

[00:17:36]Well, you can't you can't rule you can't rule anything out with the Israelis. They certainly are I think the most the most cynical evil government in the world and uh would they be capable of doing that? Yes. Um but uh so but that's speculation. I I do look, I think the main obstacle is Trump's inability to engage in serious diplomacy. He had a deal with Iran which he which he certified in his first term Iran was complying with. That was the JCPOA brokered under Obama. It was Trump who killed that deal.

[00:18:08]He's hostile to the concept of diplomacy. That's why he's appointed people like Steve Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner uh and their team which includes a recently hired top lobbyist for Israel from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. They have no interest in diplomacy and that I think is the main obstacle to a deal.

[00:18:27]Iran of course doesn't trust Trump but Iran is aware that Trump has lost and has no more leverage. He has no more cards as he likes to say uh because he tried to do regime change. It didn't work. Iran exerted its leverage over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump can't allow that to continue because of the consequences that has on gas prices which he campaigned on keeping low. He campaigned against inflation. He can't sustain that especially going into the midterms. And also if he goes back to a military option, it's his top Gulf allies including the UAE that will pay the price and he can't tolerate that either.

[00:19:01]Either. So, I don't think he has a military option but given his hostility to diplomacy, I don't think reaching a comprehensive deal with Iran is in the cards either.

[00:19:11]So, that's why I think we're just going to be in this cycle for as long as Trump can keep can can do it can manage it of just pretending to engage in diplomacy, claiming simultaneously that he's close to a deal, but also he's about to strike again as he did this week before claiming at the last minute that he pulled back. And just what I think we're looking at is no war, but also no deal.

[00:19:30]It just briefly going back to where we started with Nicholas Kristof's piece, surely American officials are aware of this.

[00:19:39]Absolutely they are. Uh there's a State Department official named Josh Paul who resigned under the Biden administration because of their support for the genocide. And when he resigned, he was talking about sexual abuse and sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners as one of his top concerns and one of the things that the US government did nothing about.

[00:19:59]And that was under Biden.

[00:20:00]So, of course this is known.

[00:20:02]But that's just one of many countless examples uh of where if US law was applied, then US aid to The abuse of prisoners, sexual violence of prisoners, blocking humanitarian aid, bombing civilians, and of course having an illegal nuclear weapons program which is in violation of the of the NPT. Uh and that's why the US doesn't officially recognize Israel's nuclear weapons program because if the US did under US law, then US aid to Israel would have to be cut off. So, the sexual violence, the slaughter of Palestinians, the blocking of humanitarian aid, so many things that the US overlooks to continue funding this genocidal state.

[00:20:43]Aaron, you're so knowledgeable and so logical. Thank you, my dear friend. A great conversation. Have have a fine holiday weekend. We look forward to seeing you next week. You as well, Judge. Thank you. Thank you. And coming up later today at 11:00 this morning, if you're watching us in 26 minute at 36 minutes, Pepe Escobar. At 1:15 this afternoon, Gilbert Doctorow. At 2:00 this afternoon, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson. At 3:00 this afternoon, Colonel Douglas McGregor. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom.

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