May 13, 2026

May 12, 2026

OPEN THREAD: Party on.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

DAVID HARSANYI: Nick Kristof’s grotesque journalistic malpractice.

Kristof’s most cartoonishly evil accusation contends that the Israelis use trained dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners. This hoax is the favorite of online antisemitic podcaster types. Not only has there never been a shred of evidence that this has happened, but it’s also probably “biologically and cognitively unfeasible” for humans to train dogs to rape people.

The dog rape claim originates with the EuroMed Human Rights Monitor, a pro-Hamas Qatari-based group. It was spread by, among other shady types, conspiracy theorist Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, a former postdoctoral fellow at UCLA who was forced to leave the school after sexual-harassment allegations involving minors.

Palestinians have spent over 70 years pulling hoaxes on gullible Westerners to gain sympathy. Anyone who’s followed the Middle East situation for more than five minutes is aware that Israel’s enemies are constantly making up ludicrous claims about trained animals. Israelis are apparently the greatest animal trainers in history. The country has been accused of deploying sharks, rats, lizards, cows, dolphins, hawks, and pigs by its enemies. The only difference here is that a Western journalist was credulous or despicable enough to spread the conspiracy.

It’s probably no accident, incidentally, that Kristof ran his victim-blaming propaganda the week we got a 300-page report detailing first-hand testimony and verifiable evidence that rape was “systematic” and “integral” to the Hamas Oct. 7 terrorist attack. Another recent report finds Hamas using international aid to sexually exploit women, especially widows and divorcees.

In a column at Commentary titled “The End of Our Illusions,” Seth Mandel adds:

We want Kristof and his defenders to be like us. But they are not like us—and they punish us for our good faith.

Serious allegations—and there are few allegations more serious than the ones being alleged here—deserve heaps of evidence and careful scrutiny. The report delivered by the Israeli commission is a model of such investigation. The Times’s rumor mill is the opposite.

There is another reason the timing is important. The Times’s evidence-free allegations against Israelis dulled outrage about the evidence-packed report of sexual violence perpetrated by Gazans against Israelis. The only beneficiaries of this timing are the Hamas foot soldiers who raped and tortured innocent civilians. Only the very worst people in the world have gained.

And there’s another reason we want to believe that Israel’s critics are morally intact. Plenty of them are. Those are probably the ones we don’t hear from. Unfortunately, the ones we keep hearing from don’t believe this conflict has anything to do with where Palestinians live but rather that Israelis live at all.

Exit quote: “We’re going to have to learn to treat the rumor-mongers differently than those who possess a shred of honesty, decency, and good faith. We’re going to have to draw a line and be wholly unsentimental about who belongs on which side of it.”

UPDATE:

Posted at 8:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

BIPARTISAN BILL BANS CHINESE EVS HERE: House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) have teamed up on a proposed bill that would effectively ban import of Chinese, Russian, North Korean and Iranian Electric Vehicles to compete here on the U.S. market.

Posted at 8:14 pm by Mark Tapscott

WHY ARE YOU CURIOUS? That’s an apt description of a “research study” funded by federal taxpayers. Don’t believe it? Check it out here.

Posted at 8:10 pm by Mark Tapscott

21ST CENTURY ENTERTAINMENT:

Here’s the link.

Posted at 5:44 pm by Stephen Green

‘BE NICE TO ME:’ Dem CA Gov Hopeful Xavier Becerra Begs Reporter for Friendly Treatment, Exposes Entitlement.

Xavier Becerra was in the Biden Administration as the DHS Secretary. He was terrible at the job and did not keep the ‘homeland’ safe, in the least. Democrats fail up, so now he is running for the job of top executive in California.

He sat down for a news interview and before they started, he wanted to be sure the journalist knew he expected a friendly interview and not a ‘gotcha’ interview. How does he expect to run a huge state when he’s afraid of a news interview? What a wimp!

Posted at 5:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

DISPATCHES FROM AL-BRIṬĀNIYĀ:

Posted at 4:35 pm by Stephen Green

CORRECTION: YOU’LL TOTALLY BELIEVE WHAT SHE JUST FOUND.

“The only problem with tainted money is there taint enough of it.”

Posted at 4:05 pm by Stephen Green

SAME, BUT THE C-IN-C DISAGREES, SO WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO?

Posted at 3:33 pm by Stephen Green