NEW YORK - Protesters gathered Thursday outside The New York Times building in New York City expressing outrage over an opinion piece by liberal columnist Nicholas Kristof that contained allegations of serial sexual abuse by Israelis against Palestinian detainees.
The article featured the testimony of men and women who alleged "brutal sexual abuse at the hands of Israel's prison guards, soldiers, settlers and interrogators." The article mentioned several claims, including that Palestinians "had their genitals yanked or were beaten on the testicles," "some men had to have their testicles amputated by doctors," and metal batons were used to rape men. Kristof also said a Gaza journalist claimed he was "mounted" by a dog before adding that "Other Palestinian prisoners and human rights monitors have also cited reports of police dogs being coached to rape prisoners."
The article drew backlash from readers and the Israeli government, which has threatened a lawsuit against The Times. Some commentators called the article into question, noting that several figures whom Kristof interviewed had ties to Hamas or anti-Israel activism.
The article quickly became a flashpoint and the controversy spilled into the streets on Thursday as protesters called for a retraction and even for Kristof's firing.
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Protesters stood inside NYPD barricades holding signs that read "Shame on The New York Times for publishing anti-Zionist libels" and "The New York Times: All the blood libel that's fit to print." They chanted and called for a retraction of the piece. Many were carrying Israeli and American flags and some had flags that were a combination of the two.
The protest took place just two days after the article was published. Ramon Maislen told Fox News Digital that the idea of holding a protest outside the newspaper's headquarters came together quickly. The planning came together over WhatsApp, according to Maislen.
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"The group came together and in 48 hours we are making this happen," he said. "I think it's really important because we've got to get the word out that when you create libel against people, it ends up having violence against them, and we're trying to avoid that."
The protesters were not only upset with the content of the article, but with its timing, saying that it was meant to upstage a report on the sexual abuse experienced by Oct. 7 victims. One of the protest organizers, Jayne Zirkle, who serves as the Director of Communications and Outreach for The Lawfare Project, echoed that sentiment to Fox News Digital.
"They published a slanderous article against Israel, and they did this just a day before the October 7th rape report came out," Zirkle said. "They want to take away from the horrible sexual abuse that the October 7th victims endured, and we are demanding retraction. We're demanding better journalism."
Adam Louis-Klein, founder of the Movement Against Anti-Zionism, argued that the article painted Israelis as uniquely barbaric and endangered Jews globally.
"It's a racist, defamatory libel. It's meant to make all Israelis look evil and bestial," Louis-Klein said.
Zach Sage Fox, a pro-Israel influencer who spoke at the protest, accused Kristof of relying on "Hamas sources and propaganda to the point of insanity."
"They actually have to make up blood libels from the medieval times to paint a picture of the Jews," Fox told Fox News Digital. He said that even if the piece were to be retracted, the claims had gone so viral that it almost wouldn't matter.
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Fox also said The Times' minimized the Holocaust when it was actively occurring. In 2001, as The Times celebrated its 150th birthday, its former Executive Editor Max Frankel called the paper's handling of coverage on the Holocaust "the century's bitterest journalistic failure."
"History repeats itself, and now, it's reposting itself," Fox said. He added that the paper should "fire Kristof immediately" as well as "anyone else who was a part of this approval process."
The Times did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment, but the paper has put out multiple statements defending the piece. Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesperson for The Times, has defended Kristof's work and said it was "backed by independent studies," and also rejected the notion that the article would be retracted.
In a subsequent statement, The Times said Kristof relied on "on-the-record accounts" and cited "several analyses documenting the practice of sexual violence and abuse conducted by various parts of Israel's security forces and settlers."
Kristof acknowledged in his article that there "is no evidence that Israeli leaders order rapes." He has repeatedly defended his work online, including the controversial portion about dogs committing sexual assaults.
Canine behavior expert Michael S. Gould told National Review that the idea of training dogs to rape prisoners was "absurd."
"I've trained dogs to do a lot of things in my life. But no, that's absurd," Gould said. "It's absurd for many reasons: the sexual instincts of dogs, their anatomy, the actual physical concept of it."
