New York Times rejects Israeli ambassador’s account of meeting with editors

The New York Times denies claims by Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, who told a gathering of Chabad emissaries on Sunday that The New York Times had published a “blood libel” about IDF actions in Gaza “to prepare the next genocide” of Jews.

Leiter also described a meeting with New York Times editors last November, where he says he was berated with accusations “of genocide, of starving people to death.”

The New York Times says in a statement, “The ambassador has misrepresented this meeting and makes a serious and false allegation about our coverage.”

“Mr. Leiter’s office requested a meeting with our Opinion section. It was a thoughtful, respectful and wide-ranging off-the-record conversation about the Middle East,” a spokesperson says.

“The war in Gaza was part of the discussion, but the ambassador describes statements and a prosecutorial tone that do not accurately reflect the conversation,” the spokesperson says.