A former Israeli prison chief interviewed by The Times of Israel characterized recent explosive allegations against the Israel Prison Service as “bullsh*t.”

The New York Times published an op-ed Sunday by one of its long-time columnists, Nicholas Kristof, in which he alleged systemic sexual abuse of Arab detainees in Israeli prisons, saying there existed “a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children — by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards.”

The claim that garnered the most attention and generated the most intense backlash was that the IDF coaches dogs to rape prisoners, with one Gazan journalist claiming he had been subjected to this type of abuse. Experts have pushed back by saying that such an action is scientifically and anatomically impossible.

Dakar Eilat, who ran two prisons in Israel, dismissed the claims. He said that constant CCTV surveillance deters abusive behavior and, as an example, pointed to a prison commander who preceded him in his position. The commander was dismissed after being caught using illegal force on prisoners.

The former prison chief said that changes were made in the prison system decades ago to prevent terrorists from planning and ordering attacks from prison. He added that following Oct. 7, the bare minimum allowable by law is given to the Oct. 7 terrorists.

He also said that during strip searches, if terrorists resist forcefully, “they will be met with force.”

But he also said many oversight mechanisms are in place to prevent abuse. About 130 Israeli and international organizations conduct inspections, with snap inspections occurring as often as five times a week. CCTV footage is constantly sent to prison headquarters for review.

Doctors follow a separate chain of command and report abuses independently, he said. Animal rights groups supervise dog training, and the Justice Department and police conduct official investigations.

All these mechanisms provide layers of oversight that prevent abuse before it happens and catch it as soon as it does. Therefore, Eilat said, covering up the kinds of abuse Kristof alleged would require hundreds of conspirators.