Protesters gathered Thursday outside building in New York City to demand that the paper retract a Nicholas Kristof opinion piece they said crossed a line. Some also called for Kristof to be fired, two days after the column was published.
The demonstrators stood inside NYPD barricades, many holding Israeli and American flags, as they voiced outrage over allegations in the piece that Israelis had carried out serial sexual abuse against Palestinian detainees. The article featured testimony from men and women who said they were brutalized by prison guards, soldiers, settlers and interrogators. It said Palestinians had their genitals yanked or were beaten on the testicles, that some men later needed amputations, and that metal batons were used to rape men. Kristof also wrote that a Gaza journalist claimed he was mounted by a dog, and said other Palestinian prisoners and human rights monitors had cited reports of police dogs being coached to rape prisoners.
Ramon Maislen said the protest came together quickly over WhatsApp. “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 said the timing of the piece was meant to upstage a report on the sexual abuse experienced by Oct. 7 victims, turning the column into part of a wider fight over how sexual violence in the war is being described and who gets believed. The backlash has already spread beyond the sidewalk. The article drew criticism from readers and the Israeli government, and the government has threatened a lawsuit against The Times. Some commentators also questioned the reporting because several of the people Kristof interviewed had ties to Hamas or anti-Israel activism.
For The Times, the dispute now sits at the intersection of editorial judgment, political anger and legal risk. For Kristof, the question is no longer just whether the piece was provocative. It is whether the paper will stand by it after a protest organized in 48 hours put the demand for a retraction and his removal in front of its own doors.
