‘NYT lies, Gaza dies’: Protesters deface New York Times building with red paint

A group of autonomous activists vandalized the New York Times (NYT) building in Manhattan, using fire extinguishers filled with red paint. The demonstrators also spray-painted the phrase "NYT LIES, GAZA DIES" on the facade, signaling their outrage at the newspaper’s coverage of the ongoing crisis in Gaza.

BREAKING: Early this morning, actionists targeted the @nytimes headquarters in midtown Manhattan with paint-filled fire extinguishers. In an anonymous statement sent to our inbox, the actionists accused the NYT of being “an active accomplice to the genocide in Gaza.” pic.twitter.com/FURZsMjutL

— Writers Against the War on Gaza (@wawog_now) July 30, 2025

In an anonymous email sent to the organization Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG), the activists claimed the NYT is “an active accomplice to the genocide in Gaza.” Along with images of the vandalism, the email contained a detailed statement condemning the paper for what they described as biased reporting and misinformation.

The email read:

"Good morning comrades,

Early this morning, an action occurred at the Times building involving red paint and flyers. We thought this might be of interest to WAWOG because of your campaign against this genocidal rag.

THE NEW YORK TIMES IS STARVING GAZA.

In the past week, more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza have died of starvation. Six hundred and fifty thousand children have reached the fifth stage of malnutrition, meaning those who survive will likely face permanent organ damage. Since May, over 1,000 aid seekers waiting in cages set up by the so-called ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,’ a US-Israeli front for the continuation of the genocide, have been killed in broad daylight while queuing for food.

Who is responsible? You’d never know from reading the so-called ‘paper of record.’ On July 26, The New York Times published a front-page story titled ‘Israel to Allow Aid Drops Amid Starvation.’ But ‘Israel’ engineered the starvation, a fact the NYT persistently conceals. The next day, the paper reported Israeli officials admitting there was no proof Hamas stole aid, but failed to acknowledge their own role in promoting the damaging narrative of aid theft— a genocidal lie justifying the brutal siege and starvation of Gaza.

Research by Writers Against the War on Gaza reveals that the NYT’s Jerusalem bureau and its New York newsroom include reporters and editors with direct ties to Israel. One such reporter, Johnatan Reiss, recently described murders at aid sites as ‘a crude form of crowd control.’ It is no longer enough to say the NYT is merely covering up Israel’s crimes—THE NYT IS AN ACTIVE ACCOMPLICE IN THE ONGOING GENOCIDE."

This protest coincides with recent controversy over an editor’s note appended by the New York Times to a story about Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, a severely malnourished child in Gaza. The note claimed the child had “pre-existing health problems,” a move critics say echoes discredited defenses used by Nazi officials at the Nuremberg trials. The correction was reportedly made following pressure from pro-'Israel' media watchdogs like “Honest Reporting.”

To date, starvation and malnutrition have killed at least 154 Palestinians in Gaza. Experts warn that a large portion of the population is now suffering irreversible damage as their bodies consume muscle to survive.