In 2007, a book based on research conducted at the Hebrew University examined how it could be that after nearly forty years of Israeli occupation in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, there had been almost no reports of rape committed by Israeli soldiers against Palestinian women. One of the explanations proposed in the study was that soldiers perceived Palestinian women as so repulsive and inferior that they refrained from raping them.

A few days ago, the award-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof published an opinion column in The New York Times under the headline “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians.” This is a scathing indictment based on interviews with alleged victims of sexual assaults by members of the security forces and settlers. The descriptions are graphic and revolting, provoking anger and disgust. They encompass the full spectrum of sexual abuse, from verbal harassment to rape involving dogs. According to the author, he approached Israel’s Ministry of Public Security for comment and was rebuffed.

Before addressing the substance of these claims, it must be said that if a request for comment was indeed ignored, this was a serious mistake on the part of Israel’s Ministry of National Security. Although the newspaper is far from sympathetic to Israel, and especially to its current government, it remains a prestigious and influential platform that cannot simply be dismissed. Its readers are not necessarily anti-Israel, and leaving such grave allegations unanswered could easily be interpreted by them as a form of tacit admission.

I begin with the assumption that it is entirely possible that soldiers committed crimes, including serious........

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