Here in New York, prosecutors have charged three people over a direct action targeting The New York Times last summer. On July 30, protesters doused the Times’s headquarters in Manhattan in red paint with the words ”NYT lies, Gaza dies” spray-painted on the building’s windows. On Monday, prosecutors brought charges of felony criminal mischief against two protesters; meanwhile, a photojournalist who took pictures of the direct action was charged with aggravated harassment in the second degree as a hate crime. The group Writers Against the War on Gaza has condemned the prosecution as an attack on the movement to end Israel’s assault on Gaza, and an attempt to criminalize both journalistic and political speech. This is organizer Tracy Rosenthal.

Tracy Rosenthal: “This action echoed the tactics of Palestine Action in targeting weapons manufacturers here at the headquarters of The New York Times. And I think it must be understood as an antiwar action against the paper, which has supported every — like nearly every U.S. war in my lifetime. I think we can turn to the words of Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat, who was assassinated by Israel this March, and who wrote in June 2024, 'Language makes genocide justifiable. A reason why we are still being bombed after 243 days is because of The New York Times.'”