Criticism online erupted targeting The New York Times this past weekend in the wake of many people claiming that the crossword puzzle layout for the newspaper closely resembled a giant Nazi swastika, a horrid fact made much worse because it was made public on the first day of Hanukkah.
The puzzle in question was published this past Sunday morning by the newspaper, sparking insanity on the web.
Magen Yehudi, a Jewish author, stated via social media, “If you think it’s outrageous that the New York Times decided a swastika was a great idea for their crossword puzzle on the first day of Hanukkah, maybe you should remember that the next time you read their reports about Haredi yeshivot & ponder whether there might be bias there.”
For anyone claiming that it's a case of seeing something that's not there: pic.twitter.com/gd4rtT3JHP
— shevereshtus (@shevereshtus) December 18, 2022
“Disgusting! Only the New York Times would get Chanukah going with this is the crossword puzzle,” chimed in Donald Trump Jr. “Imagine what they would do to someone who did this and was not ideologically aligned with them? I’ll give them the same benefit of the doubt they would give those people… EXACTLY ZERO.”
“Meanwhile, on the first night of Hanukkah the anti-Israel New York Slimes issues a crossword puzzle that looks like a swastika,” stated Mark Levin, a well-known conservative radio host. “Of course, when pointed out, they claimed it was a coincidence. What a sick and sad history.”
In the same vein, Blake Flayton, a writer for the Jewish Journal, stated, “Today’s New York Times crossword is um…making me nervous.”
“A not so subtle swastika in the NYT,” explained David Shor, a political commentator.
A not so subtle swastika in the NYT: https://t.co/1pQs4LH5JO
— David Shor (@DYShor) December 18, 2022
The New York Times has been dealing with fiery backlash since April 2019 after the international edition of the newspaper posted a highly anti-Semitic cartoon that was slammed with heavy criticism across the political spectrum. The newspaper was criticized again after that on the same day for not issuing an apology fast enough in its first response.
As read in an op-ed hosted by The Times, Bret Stephens criticized the paper he worked for at that time for what he claimed to be highlighting and promoting anti-Semitism.
“The Times wasn’t explaining anti-Semitism. It was purveying it,” expressed Stephens in a statement. “It did so in the form of a cartoon…in which a guide dog with a prideful countenance and the face of Benjamin Netanyahu leads a blind, fat Donald Trump wearing dark glasses and a black yarmulke. Lest there be any doubt as to the identity of the dog-man, it wears a collar from which hangs a Star of David.”
“Here was an image that, in another age, might have been published in the pages of Der Stürmer,” explained Stephens. “The Jew in the form of a dog. The small but wily Jew leading the dumb and trusting American. The hated Trump being Judaized with a skullcap. The nominal servant acting as the true master. The cartoon checked so many anti-Semitic boxes that the only thing missing was a dollar sign.”
“The image also had an obvious political message: Namely, that in the current administration, the United States follows wherever Israel wants to go,” continued Stephens, highlighting that the message was false.
On April 25, 2019 The New York Times published a story with a highly anti-Semitic cartoon picturing Israel PM Bibi Netanyahu as an animal with a Magen David leash held by US president Donald Trump.
It's time for our generation to make sure that anti-Semitism is prevented. pic.twitter.com/FosC7SprAS
— Rudy Rochman (@rudy_rochman) April 27, 2019
