A Jewish New York Times editor's views on Israel have been targeted after the newspaper published an opinion piece last week calling for the deployment of troops to quell the rioting over the killing of George Floyd. 

The opinion piece by Republican Senator Tom Cotton, entitled ‘Send in the Troops’, triggered an immediate row, with over 800 New York Times staff signing a letter of protest over the article. 

Amid the row, a foreign policy think-tank, the Quincy Institute, claimed in an article that the junior editor who oversaw the op-ed, Adam Rubenstein, had “participated in discussions on the Iraq War and Jewish thought and politics at the Hertog Foundation – the foundation of neoconservative funder Roger Hertog,” before joining journalism.

The Quincy Institute article, entitled ‘The New York Times opinion desk has a neoconservative problem’, also claimed that Mr Rubenstein had participated in discussions at “The Tikvah Fund, which has seeded an array of right-wing publications devoted to defending Israel and neoconservative thought.”

The Quincy Institute also claimed that fellow editor at The New York Times, Bari Weiss, “has gone after critics of the Israeli government” and that conservative columnist Bret Stephens “has used his platform to continue to call for military action against Iran and extoll the virtues of ‘Jewish genius’.”

On Sunday, The New York Times announced that James Bennet, who has directed its editorial pages since May 2016, was resigning with immediate effect, while deputy editor Jim Dao – who had sought to take the flak for the op-ed – had been reassigned.

The Electronic Intifada, a pro-Palestinian news site, also published an article highlighting Mr Rubenstein’s views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“Four years ago, as a student at Kenyon College in Ohio, Rubenstein attacked Students for Justice in Palestine,” it claimed.

Mr Rubenstein has been contacted for comment.