Around 200 protesters gathered outside the New York Times’ headquarters in Manhattan on Thursday to denounce the paper for publishing a controversial article alleging widespread abuse of Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces.
Demonstrators waved Israeli flags, held placards accusing the newspaper of spreading falsehoods and chanted slogans condemning the report, which was written by columnist Nicholas Kristof and published earlier this week.
The article included testimonies from former Palestinian detainees who alleged rape, torture and severe mistreatment in Israeli detention facilities during the war in Gaza. The article’s most extreme claim was that Israeli forces used dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners.
The article sparked immediate backlash from Israeli officials, who accused the newspaper of amplifying “blood libel” and fuelling antisemitic narratives.
Hundreds of protesters gather outside the New York Times in Manhattan following an opinion piece by Kristof alleging Israel “rapes prisoners with dogs” pic.twitter.com/vPfMIDeJG0
— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) May 15, 2026
Some protesters carried signs reading “Anti-Zionism gets Jews killed” and “J’accuse” next to the New York Times logo, a reference to the Dreyfus Affair, in which a French Jewish military officer was falsely charged with spying in the late 1800s.
Speakers accused the paper of abandoning journalistic standards as attendees chanted “New York Times, shame on you”, and “New York Times, get it straight, stop the libels, stop the hate”.
The protest remained largely peaceful, though tensions occasionally flared between demonstrators and some passersby who heckled the gathering, shouting “f*** Israel” and “stop f***ing kids”, according to reports.
Israeli officials, meanwhile, have argued the article echoed historic antisemitic smears and said the paper had failed to sufficiently scrutinise the testimonies cited in the column.
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the article “one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press”.
The New York Times defended the article in a series of statements, insisting that it was extensively fact-checked and corroborated by witnesses, and dismissed the announcement that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a defamation lawsuit be filed against the paper.
A spokesperson for the paper said the threat to sue “is part of a well-worn political playbook that aims to undermine independent reporting and stifle journalism that does not fit a specific narrative. Any such legal claim would be without merit”.
To get more news, click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.