Syndicated radio host Lars Larson blasted New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof during an appearance Thursday on The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, accusing the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist of pushing Hamas propaganda and attempting to distract from a major report documenting Hamas’s sexual violence during the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.
The interview came as hundreds of pro-Israel demonstrators gathered outside The New York Times headquarters in Manhattan to protest Kristof’s controversial column accusing Israel of systemic sexual abuse against Palestinian detainees. Protesters chanted, “New York Times, shame on you,” and “We will not be silent,” while carrying signs accusing the paper of spreading “blood libels” against Jews and Israel. The rally was organized by End Jew Hatred, the Movement Against Antizionism, Stop Antizionism, and Hineni.
The backlash intensified further Thursday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced Israel was exploring legal action against the newspaper.
“Today I instructed my legal advisers to consider the harshest legal action against The New York Times and Nicholas Kristof,” Netanyahu said Thursday. “They defamed the soldiers of Israel and perpetuated a blood libel about rape, trying to create a false symmetry between the genocidal terrorists of Hamas and Israel’s valiant soldiers.”
“Under my leadership, Israel will not be silent,” Netanyahu added. “We will fight these lies in the court of public opinion and in the court of law. Truth will prevail.”
Larson, who said he has known Kristof since their days competing against each other in high school debate tournaments in the Pacific Northwest, described the columnist as dishonest and politically motivated.
“One of the people I regularly debated against and beat — beat like a rented mule — was Nicholas Kristof,” Larson said. “We used to think, this guy is pathetic.”
Larson said his distrust of Kristof intensified years later when the columnist attempted to run for governor of Oregon despite questions surrounding his residency status.
“He said, ‘I’m gonna run for governor,’ and I immediately said, ‘You don’t live in Oregon,’” Larson recalled. “So he’s a liar in that case, and he has been caught on so many lies that he has told.”
The interview centered on growing backlash against Kristof’s recent column, including controversial allegations that Israeli forces used dogs to sexually assault prisoners.
Critics have condemned the article as inflammatory and poorly sourced, pointing to Kristof’s reliance on organizations accused of ties to Hamas or anti-Israel activism.
“Basically asks his audience [to] believe the information I’m getting from organizations that are backers of Hamas, a terrorist organization,” Larson said. “In the most outlandish claims about what is happening to so-called Palestinians when they’re in Israeli custody, including that they were raped by dogs.”
During the interview, Hoffman argued that Kristof’s column appeared timed to distract from a Civil Commission report documenting Hamas’s sexual violence during the Oct. 7 attacks.
According to Hoffman, the report had been distributed to major media outlets, including The New York Times, under embargo before publication.
“So The New York Times had this in advance, knew the date it was coming out, knew the time it was coming out, and they specifically released Kristof’s story so people would be talking about this dog insanity rather than the horrific things that happened on October 7th,” Hoffman said.
Larson agreed, comparing the tactic to traditional media attempts to bury damaging stories.
“It’s exactly one of those regular tactics that you and I know about,” Larson said. “If you want to dump something out and have it not come to public attention, do it at 5:00 on Friday night.”
“Don’t pay attention to that other report, which by the way is a very well documented report with photos, with personal testimonies, with video, with the whole nine yards,” he added. “Pay attention to this garbage that’s getting shoveled out by Nick Kristof, the liar.”
Larson also criticized what he described as a longstanding anti-Israel bias at The New York Times, referencing historical controversies involving the paper’s Middle East coverage.
“This garbage has been going on for years,” Larson said, pointing to past reporting errors involving Israeli and Palestinian violence.
He specifically referenced HonestReporting, a media watchdog organization created in response to disputed New York Times coverage during the Second Intifada.
Larson additionally raised questions about Kristof’s family background, referencing passages from the columnist’s memoir discussing his Romanian father’s wartime history.
“If you’re willing to go out and shove propaganda out there,” Larson said, “you should be willing to take tough questions.”
The longtime radio host criticized Kristof for allegedly avoiding appearances on programs where he could face aggressive scrutiny.
“A number of years ago, he did come on the show,” Larson said. “Since then he has not been willing to come on, and I really find that suspicious now.”
Larson contrasted that with his own willingness to appear on hostile networks or before political opponents.
“If you have the courage of your convictions, be willing to stand up and take tough questions about issues,” he said. “If you’re not willing to take tough questions, you’re telling the rest of us you don’t actually have the courage of your convictions.”
The New York Times has strongly defended Kristof and denied accusations that the column was intended to overshadow the Oct. 7 sexual violence report.
“The Times never passed on the Civil Commission report and wasn’t told about its completion or the timing of its release,” spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander said. “Once the report was made public, we covered its findings. The commission’s work also had no bearing on Nicholas Kristof’s opinion column or its publication timing.”
The newspaper has also rejected calls for a retraction, with Stadtlander saying Kristof is “widely regarded as one of the world’s best on-the-ground reporters documenting and bearing witness to sexual abuse experienced by women and men in war and conflict zones.”
