Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to sue The New York Times and journalist Nicholas Kristof for defamation over an article that alleged Israeli soldiers, prison guards and settlers had used widespread sexual violence against Palestinian prisoners. Netanyahu instructed his legal advisers "to consider the harshest legal action" against the paper. "They defamed the soldiers of Israel and perpetuated a blood libel about rape, trying to create a false symmetry between the genocidal terrorists of Hamas and Israel's valiant soldiers," Netanyahu said in a statement. Kristof, a veteran journalist, reported the story from the occupied West Bank. (Getty) "We will fight these lies in the court of public opinion and in the court of law. Truth will prevail," Netanyahu said, though he did not clarify when or where the lawsuit would be filed. He has threatened to sue the newspaper before and did not follow through.…