Israel’s outspoken consul general in New York told The Post exclusively that he has had enough of what he views as hostility from The New York Times — and has moved to cancel every subscription the Upper East Side consulate holds with the newspaper.
“Ofir Akunis, Israel’s Consul General in New York, ordered a cancellation of the Israeli Consulate’s New York Times subscription on Friday,” a statement shared exclusively with The Post said.
The statement said the decision followed what Akunis characterized as the newspaper’s “series of false blood libels and ongoing incitement against the Jewish state.”
Akunis was blunt in explaining the move.
“The New York Times has crossed every red line. This is no longer ‘journalism’ but a well-oiled, coordinated machine spreading blood libels against the Jewish state. Enough is enough!” he said in a statement shared exclusively with The Post.
“The New York Times is a newspaper that routinely publishes false blood libels and has, over many years, consistently incited *hate* against the State of Israel,” Akunis continued.
“It hides behind the cover of ‘anonymous sources,’ which on several occasions have been exposed as terrorists and Hamas operatives. I have instructed the consulate staff to immediately cancel our subscription to this newspaper,” he added, without specifying how many subscriptions were being canceled.
“We respect and accept criticism, but we will not lend legitimacy to the spread of hatred and falsehoods against the Jewish state. This incitement and these blood libels are fueling the surge in antisemitism and the rise in violent attacks against Jews in the United States.”
Akunis has been a fierce critic of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has become notorious for his controversial rhetoric about the Jewish state.
The Times has come under fire for its reporting in the wake of terror group Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks — particularly its columnist Nicolas Kristof, who explosively accused Israel of widespread abuse of Palestinian prisoners, including the training of rape dogs.
Netanyahu threatened to sue the Gray Lady in May over the roundly maligned Kristof column. The move came after 2025 threats to sue over the paper’s defamatory claims about Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza.
In January, The Post reported that a Gaza “doctor” who penned blistering anti-Israel op-eds in the Times following Oct. 7 was actually a colonel with Hamas. “We are suffering and paying the price of the genocide that is happening to our people here in the northern Gaza Strip,” Hussam Abu Safiya, who was seen wearing a Hamas camo military uniform while at a gathering of Hamas elites in 2016, wrote in one piece.
International calls for Safiya’s release persist after Israel arrested him in 2024 on suspicion of being a “Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists,” according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The Post has sought comment from the Times.
