A prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi from New York has called for a boycott of the New York Times in protest of the paper’s recent publication of an anti-Semitic cartoon.
Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, the rabbi emeritus of Manhattan’s Kehilath Jeshurun synagogue and former head of the Ramaz school who oversaw the conversion of President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, a decade ago, penned an opinion piece published in the Jerusalem Post and Algemeiner declaring that the Times “has no place in our home or, for that matter, in any respectable home, Jewish or not.”
Citing the paper’s history of “unfair…treatment of Israel” and its publication of an anti-Semitic cartoon last month portraying Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as a dog with a Star of David, leading a blind President Trump who was wearing a kippah, Rabbi Lookstein called for a boycott of the Times.
“We have one major recourse by which we can let our revulsion be known: We can refuse to let The New York Times enter our homes.”
Rabbi Lookstein said that he had twice temporarily suspended his own subscription to the paper, most recently in protest of its “unfair” coverage of Israel during Operation Defensive Shield – Israel’s largest counter-terror operation of the Second Intifada – which came in response to the massive Park Hotel Passover bombing that killed 30 and left nearly 150 more injured.
This time, however, Rabbi Lookstein called for a full boycott, citing the media’s role in permitting the rise in anti-Semitism.
“It is a small action, but if it is taken by many individuals, it will deliver a strong message. If we believe that anti-Semitism is on the rise, and that it presents a danger to the Jewish people and to the America that we love, we have to do more than worry about it.”
“Take action now. It is time to dump the Times!”