Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, one of the primary information sources relied upon by journalist Nicholas Kristof in his controversial New York Times op-ed, is a research institute headed by a Hamas member against whom Israeli security forces have issued an administrative detention order.
This was explored in detail in a report released on Wednesday by the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry.
Kristof’s article accuses Israeli security forces of committing widespread rape and sexual offenses against Palestinian prisoners. It also includes the account of an unnamed Gaza journalist who claims Israel trains dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry denounced the op-ed as “one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press.” The ministry also condemned the fact that The New York Times decided not to publish the findings of Israel’s Civil Commission into Hamas’s systemic violence during, and since, the October 7 massacre.
Now, the Diaspora Ministry has released a report into the organization Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor – which is cited throughout the op-ed’s discussion of sexual abuse.
Euro-Med is registered in Switzerland and operates out of Geneva, presenting itself as a regional human rights body focused on the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. However, its actual operations are overwhelmingly focused on the Palestinian arena and anti-Israel activity.
The organization operates through field documentation, the submission of documents to UN mechanisms, and the promotion of legal proceedings in the international arena.
Euro-Med assisted South Africa in Israel ICJ case
Euro-Med also provided the South African legal team at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with the evidentiary infrastructure to support claims of genocide by Israel, including documentation of mass graves and evidence of alleged damage to the healthcare system in Gaza.
Euro-Med is also engaged in training activists. As part of its activities, the organization operates the “WikiRights” project in the Gaza Strip, which targets young Palestinian men and women and provides them with “in-depth training in human rights research and documentation, as well as professional editing on Wikipedia.”
The Diaspora Ministry report indicates that Euro-Med promotes allegations of “systematic sexual violence” and calls for Israel’s inclusion on the UN “blacklist.” Furthermore, it appears that Euro-Med does not operate solely as a documentation body, but rather as a multi-layered system that conducts field documentation, legal framing, international lobbying, and broad media distribution, and trains a network of activists.
The ministry says this pattern allows the organization to extend its influence beyond mere reporting into decision-making circles, parliamentary discourse, international legal frameworks, and global public opinion.
The founder and chairman of the organization is Ramy Abdu, against whom the Israeli Defense Minister signed an administrative detention order in November 2020, under the Counter-Terrorism Law. The order was issued due to Abdu’s activities as a board member of “IPalestine,” which Israel designated as a terrorist organization affiliated with Hamas.
In a post published on January 31, 2026, Abdu wrote: “Israel will continue to kill and displace Palestinians under any circumstances, even if they are defenseless. Regardless of promises, our people and their resistance must never lay down their arms. Never.”
The seizure order expired in August 2022.
In a post published on May 31, 2025, Abdu wrote: “If October 7 is perceived as a justification for genocide and displacement, then by that same logic, what Israel has done, the siege on Gaza, control over lives, killing hundreds every year in cold blood, decades of occupation, and the expansion of settlements, justifies a million October 7ths.”
Abdu had shared the dog rape allegation for many years.
Other members of the organization’s leadership and other senior officials have expressed positions that include support for or justification of narratives identified with Hamas.
Former board chair Mazen Kahel appears on a 2013 list, published by Israel, of Hamas’s “main operatives and institutions” in Europe.
Richard Falk, chair of the organization’s board of trustees, served for six years as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories.
In his article Remembering October 7, in October 2025, Falk said, “labeling Hamas as a terrorist organization is an obstacle to a political solution… the events of October 7 should be framed as an act of Palestinian resistance stemming from the ongoing blockade and Israel’s refusal to recognize the results of the 2006 democratic elections.”
In an interview with the Qods News Agency, April 2024, Falk said, “There were exaggerated claims by Israel about barbaric behavior [by Hamas]… without an international investigative commission, it cannot be determined whether the acts committed invalidate Hamas’s legitimacy as a resistance movement.”
“It is regrettable to hear that The New York Times, which, for years, served as a symbol of quality journalism, falls victim time and again to the Palestinians’ wholesale lies,” said Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli. “The Euro-Med organization, which the newspaper chose to cite, is headed by none other than a Hamas member and terrorist involved in the ‘Gaza Tribunal’ initiatives, which work to promote international pressure against Israel.”
Director-General of the Diaspora Ministry, Avi Cohen-Scali, said. “The New York Times is providing a platform for the ideology of a murderous terrorist organization.”
“The report reveals a method of operation that feeds lies, ideological agendas, and incitement against the State of Israel in an attempt to shape an anti-Israel and antisemitic narrative.”