Over 100 people protest 'New York Times' antisemitism
'The New York Times' has since dropped the syndication service that supplied the antisemitic cartoon.
By ILANIT CHERNICKTHE NEW York Times Building in Manhattan(photo credit: REUTERS)
Over 100 people gathered outside The New YorkTimes building in Manhattan to protest the recent antisemitic cartoon that it published on Thursday in its international edition.The cartoon depicted an apparently blind US President Donald Trump wearing a yarmulke being led by a dog with a Star of David for a collar and the face of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Following its publication, there was a major outcry by politicians, journalists activists, organizations and religious leaders about the blatantly antisemitic imagery used with some comparing it to Nazi cartoons and propaganda.Attendees arrived at the protest waving both Israeli and American flags, and brandishing signs with slogans that included: "Anit-Israel, Anti-Semitic, NYT Guilty", "NYT guilty of 120 years of hatred," and a sign with a yellow Star of David captioned: "NYT, should I be wearing this too?"Those attending chanted, "Shame on You [New York Times]" as former New York assemblyman Dov Hikind addressed the crowd explaining the antisemitic the cartoon. "This is the worst time of antisemtism imaginable, shame on you," Hikind said as the crowd echoed his chant. Hikind also made it clear that The New York Times tells US President Donald Trump not to use certain language, however, it shouldn't be using this type of language, he explained referring to the antisemitic cartoon and its continuous bashing of Israel."From 1939 to 1945, the Times ran 23,000 headlines," he recalled. "Of them, only 26 stories were about the Holocaust. This is not a fantastic record for a paper of record. I am a Democrat, but a very embarrassed one."Hikind said that there was "no limit" to the hypocrisy of The New York Times, adding that when he first saw the cartoon, he was left in "shock and disbelief.""It's personally very painful for me," renown Harvard academic and lawyer Alan Dershowitz told the crowd. "I have written many many dozens of articles for The New York Times... I have been in the book review, the art section, the magazine, I have been a strong supporter of The New York Times, but when I saw that cartoon it reminded me of a very dark time in Jewish history and I asked myself: 'How could it have happened?'"
He said that the first amendment gives the Times that right to be wrong and "I always defend everybody's first amendment rights but The New York Times has been wrong so often when it comes to Israel, when it comes to the Jewish people."The only good thing that The New York Times has done for the Jewish people is it put the lie to the notion that Jews control the media and use it to support their own interest," Dershowitz said.One protester took a copy of The New York Times and tore it up. "Here's to the Times, self-hating Jews," he said as protesters behind him continued to chant "shame on The New York Times."Many of the protesters also called for those responsible for allowing the cartoon to be published to be fired.On Sunday, The New York Times Opinion apologized for publishing the antisemitic cartoon, blaming “a single editor” for authorizing the use of the offensive imagery.“We are deeply sorry for the publication of an antisemitic political cartoon last Thursday in the print edition of The New York Times that circulates outside of the United States,” the newspaper wrote. “We are committed to making sure nothing like this happens again.“Such imagery is always dangerous, and at a time when antisemitism is on the rise worldwide, it’s all the more unacceptable. We have investigated how this happened and learned that, because of a faulty process, a single editor working without adequate oversight downloaded the syndicated cartoon and made the decision to include it on the Opinion page," it said.The New York Times has since dropped the syndication service that supplied the antisemitic cartoon.Menachem Shlomo contributed to this report.
