Anti-Zionist protesters disrupt Israel critic Ezra Klein with genocide accusations

Anti-Israel protesters disrupted an event on Wednesday with the Jewish New York Times journalist Ezra Klein, calling him a Nazi and a genocide supporter, according to newly surfaced video.

The protest stood out because Klein is a critic of Israel who has hosted anti-Israel speakers on his show, such as the Columbia University protest leader, Mahmoud Khalil.

Klein spoke at Sarah Lawrence College on Wednesday for an event called “Building Bridges” focused on “how we can collectively move beyond polarization toward shared solutions.”

Video shared with The Times of Israel showed protesters interrupting Klein’s event, holding a sign that says “Nazi normalizer.”

“Why do you think I deny what’s going on in Gaza? I think it’s destruction, apartheid, subjugation,” Klein said.

“Buddy, talk to me. Turn around. I am right here,” he said, as a protester shouted at the audience with his back toward Klein, accusing Klein of backing “genocidal ideology.”

The protester refused to engage, shouting, “Ezra Klein, you’re a liar, you set Palestine on fire.”

“I don’t think you know what I think,” Klein responded.

“I know exactly what you think,” the protester claimed.

“Then why don’t you want to talk to me about it?” Klein said.

“You like genocide,” the protester shouted.

Outside the event, several dozen activists chanted against Klein and the college while beating a drum, according to video shared with The Times of Israel.

“Sarah Lawrence, we know you, you invite fascists too,” they chanted.

Weighing in on the scene, actor and Jewish advocate Jonah Platt argued, “The ‘genocide’ libel is patently false, but even if it wasn’t, Ezra Klein, a random Jewish journalist, has literally nothing to do with what happens abroad and is actually very far to the Left on Israel. The mob STILL comes for him. Anti-zionism is an anti-Jew hate movement, period.”

The campus branch of Students for Justice in Palestine had opposed Klein’s event, calling him a “genocide denier and liberal Zionist mouthpiece” and a “fascist-normalizing ruling class darling.”

The group posted an image of graffiti earlier this week branding Klein a “Zionist pig.”

Students for Justice in Palestine at Sarah Lawrence College posts photo of graffiti calling Ezra Klein a “genocide denier” and a “Zionist pig” ahead of a talk he’s giving on the campus, despite his critical stance toward Israel pic.twitter.com/0TvgT4hpeY

— Luke Tress (@luketress) January 28, 2026

The group posted on Instagram Thursday, saying the college president had sent out an email saying the protesters were being investigated, and claiming the protest was necessary “given Klein’s career as an apologist of white supremacist views and an accessory to genocidal state violence.”

The statement did not share any specifics about Klein’s past statements.

The group is listed as a recognized student club on the college’s website.

In 2024, the student group also protested another left-leaning Jewish journalist, Jodi Rudoren, then the editor-in-chief of The Forward. The activists called the Jewish newspaper a “hotspot for dangerous Zionist propaganda.”