Members of NGO Monitor, an Israel-based research institute, signed an open letter on Sunday, May 31, calling for an independent investigation of The New York Times following its publishing of an opinion column alleging Israeli authorities sexually assaulted Palestinian security prisoners.

Methodology?

The column, penned by Nicholas Kristof, drew a flurry of criticism worldwide, culminating in the recent United Nation’s decision to place Israel on a list of parties suspected of committing sexual violence in conflict.

The members of NGO Monitor’s International Advisory Board members wrote, “[We] call for a thorough and fully independent investigation of the sourcing, fact-checking and methodology employed by Kristof and the Times staff in the May 11 piece.” Such a probe, the letter continued, “is necessary in the wake of the ‘halo effect’ that protects advocacy NGOs claiming human rights agendas from independent scrutiny.”

Credibility?

Members of the board added, “Relying primarily on anonymous and unfalsifiable testimonies, Kristof’s column lacked credibility from the beginning. And the subsequent attempts by Kristof and the Times to deflect the substantive criticism have only added to these concerns. The claims of ‘rigorous vetting’ and thorough investigation by the Times are equally unverifiable.”

NGO Monitor has exposed dubious sources used in Kristof’s column, some of which have direct links to Hamas.

Former and present officials within the Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, heavily relied on in the column, have held events with Hamas leaders.

For example, the organization’s current chairman, Ramy Abdu, sat next to Hamas leader Osama Hamdan in 2013, then serving as Hamas’s international relations officer.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor spreads conspiracy theories against the Jewish state involving organ theft suspicions, the old anti-Semitic blood libel of Jews drinking non-Jewish blood, and police dogs trained to rape Palestinian prisoners, NGO Monitor notes.