Around 200 demonstrators, primarily members of the Jewish community, gathered outside The New York Times offices in Manhattan on Thursday to protest a controversial column alleging systemic sexual abuse of Palestinian inmates in Israel.
The demonstration targeted a piece written by Nicholas Kristof. Protesters carried signs reading “Antizionism gets Jews killed” and “J’accuse”—the latter referencing the late 19th-century Dreyfus affair involving a Jewish French officer falsely accused of espionage. Chants during the rally included “New York Times, shame on you” and “New York Times, get it straight, stop the libels, stop the hate.”
The rally was organized by a coalition of activist groups, including End Jew Hatred, Stop Antizionism, Hineni and the Movement Against Antizionism. According to organizers, three of these groups were established following the Hamas invasion of Israel in October 2023, representing a segment of the U.S. Jewish community that views anti-Zionism as a form of hatred rather than a political stance.
Critics of the column have highlighted several points of contention, including its timing—published immediately before a major report on Hamas rape—and its reliance on sources described as having a history of fabrication and anti-Zionist extremism. Experts cited in the reports stated that the column’s most extreme claim, that Israelis use dogs to rape Palestinians, is not plausible. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated the column misrepresented a statement he provided to the reporter.
For the participants, the column represents a dangerous escalation in media narratives. Naya Lekht, founder of Stop Antizionism, compared the current environment to a “cycle of libels” reminiscent of propaganda in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1941, warning that such coverage is “commissioning violence.”
The frustration expressed by the crowd extended to previous New York Times coverage of Gaza. Protesters cited the October 2023 Al Ahli hospital explosion, which was initially reported as an Israeli strike but later found to be a misfired Palestinian rocket, as well as a false report regarding a UN official’s claim that 14,000 babies in Gaza were facing starvation. Ramon Maislen of the Brooklyn Bridgebuilders group described the current sentiment as a “general level of exhaustion and frustration,” calling the Kristof column “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
The New York Times has defended the column in multiple statements. In response to a threat from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sue, a newspaper spokesperson dismissed the move as part of a “well-worn political playbook” intended to “stifle journalism that does not fit a specific narrative,” asserting that any such legal claim would be “without merit.”
The protest, which included some heckling from passersby, concluded after approximately one hour with the singing of “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem.
The fallout from the column could lead to further legal confrontations between the Israeli government and the publication. As expressed by protester Eve Oster, there may be efforts to encourage sympathetic staff within The New York Times to speak out internally regarding the publication’s editorial standards on this issue.
