New York Times Executive Editor Joseph Kahn’s Greenwich Village apartment building appears to have been vandalized over the paper’s coverage of Gaza.
The apartment building’s walls and front steps were covered with red paint on Friday, photos of the scene show. There was also a message at the bottom of the building’s steps that read: “Joe Kahn lies Gaza dies.”
The New York Police Department responded to reports about the vandalism around 4:45 a.m. on Friday, a spokesperson told The Independent. An investigation is ongoing, and no arrests have been made.
The vandalism at Kahn’s home “crosses a line,” according to New York Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander.
“People are free to disagree with The New York Times’s reporting but vandalism and targeting of individuals and their families crosses a line and we will work with authorities to address it,” Stadtlander said.
This isn’t the first instance of vandalism over the outlet’s coverage of Gaza. The paper’s Manhattan headquarters was vandalized last month with white paint that read: “NYT lies Gaza dies.”
The message was painted shortly after the paper issued an editor’s note on a July 24 story titled: “Gazans are Dying of Starvation.”
The outlet said it updated the story to include new information about Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, one of the malnourished children featured in the story. The update came after some pro-Israel groups had criticized the outlet’s use of al-Mutawaq’s photo and said he had pre-existing health conditions, Semafor reports.
“We recently ran a story about Gaza’s most vulnerable civilians, including Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, who is about 18 months old and suffers from severe malnutrition,” the Times said in a statement on July 29.
“We have since learned new information, including from the hospital that treated him and his medical records, and have updated our story to add context about his pre-existing health problems,” the statement continued. “This additional detail gives readers a greater understanding of the situation.”
Gaza is experiencing the “worst-case scenario of famine” amid Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the leading global authority on food crises.
“Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,” the organization said last week. “Latest data indicates that Famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City.”
World leaders have decried the conditions in Gaza. President Donald Trump said last month that there is “real starvation” in Gaza, while UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said last week that starvation in Gaza a “moral outrage” and blamed Israel’s “refusal to allow sufficient aid into Gaza.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called last week’s report an “outright lie” and has repeatedly claimed there is no hunger in Gaza.
Health officials say the death toll in Gaza surpassed 63,000 this week amid the Israel-Hamas war. The conflict broke out on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
