NYT building vandalized after Gaza story correction issued

Unidentified individuals spray-painted “NYT Lies, Gaza Dies” on The New York Times building in Manhattan on Wednesday, with sections of the structure’s doors and windows also daubed with red paint.

The incident follows heightened criticism of the newspaper’s coverage of the Gaza conflict. The perpetrators remain unknown.

The graffiti appeared hours after The New York Times issued an editor’s note amending its July 24 article, “Gazans are dying of starvation.” Five days after publication, the Times acknowledged that its story referenced a Gazan boy, Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, suffering from severe malnutrition, but later learned from his doctor and medical records that the child also had pre-existing health conditions. The editor’s note underscored that the article had been updated to reflect these new details.

The Times credited photographer Saher Alghorra for the images accompanying the story. Media watchdog HonestReporting highlighted previous social media posts by Alghorra, in which he referred to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack as “the Palestinian resistance in Gaza,” and described “thousands of missiles” targeting Israel as a response to actions at Al-Aqsa Mosque. After images of the child spread widely, the boy’s mother told CNN her son suffers from a “muscle disorder.”

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel (Michael) Leiter sharply criticized The New York Times on social media. In an X post overnight Wednesday, accompanied by a video statement, he wrote: “The New York Times spread a lie about Israel across the world. And what’d they do when they were caught? Almost a week later, they shared a partial and weak correction with a tiny fraction of their followers. Too little, too late.” He accused the outlet of acting as a “mouthpiece for Hamas propaganda.”