A pro-Palestinian protester splattered red paint across the Greenwich Village home of the New York Times executive editor early Friday, police said.
The red paint was found on the front steps, walls, sidewalk and lamps outside the entrance to the swanky apartment building on Fifth Ave. near E. 11th St. at about 3 a.m. on Friday.
New York Times executive editor Joseph Kahn lives in the building.
Besides smearing red paint on the walls and steps, the vandal or vandals wrote “Joe Kahn Lies, Gaza Dies” in black marker on the sidewalk in front of the front door.
Building residents called police after the vandalism was discovered a few hours later.
No arrests have been made.
Police sources said there have been a handful of similar protests against Kahn’s home over the New York Times’ coverage of the war in Gaza. Kahn was named executive editor of the paper in 2022.
Since the Israeli-Hamas conflict began in October 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, massacring 1,200 people and taking hostages, marches in support of both Israel and Palestine have taken place in the city almost weekly.
During that time, some pro-Palestinian protesters have targeted cultural institutions they claim take money from Israel.
They often brought their protests to the front door of the heads of these institutions and last June splashed red paint outside a Hicks St. building in Brooklyn Heights where Brooklyn Museum Executive Director Anne Pasternak lives, cops confirmed. The vandalism was spurred by opposition to the museum’s investment in companies with ties to the Israeli military.
Cops ultimately arrested a handful of protesters for the vandalism.
Pro-Palestinian protesters also targeted the New York Times, claiming that the paper has taken Israel’s side in their reporting.
“While Israelis are ‘hostages,’ Palestinians are ‘prisoners,’” protester Ramzi Saud said during a protest held at the New York Times building on W. 41st St. in December. “While Palestinians are ‘terrorists,’ the Israelis are civilians.”
Several protesters were taken into custody and issued summonses during the December protest after they stormed the lobby of the New York Times building and demanded the paper “stop manufacturing consent for genocide” in their articles.
“The biased reporting must be put to an end,” Saud said.
During the December demonstration, protesters screamed “Every time the Times lies, a neighborhood in Lebanon dies” — words similar to what was left outside Kahn’s building on Friday morning.
“People are free to disagree with The New York Times’s reporting but vandalism and targeting of individuals and their families crosses a line,” a spokesman for the paper said Friday. “We will work with authorities to address it.”
Originally Published: August 29, 2025 at 12:24 PM EDT
