Vandals splattered red paint across the entrance of the ritzy Greenwich Village building where New York Times executive editor Joseph Kahn lives early Friday, in the latest attack by anti-Israel activists enraged over the paper’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza war.
Officers were called to 43 Fifth Ave., near East 11th Street, just before 5 a.m. on Friday, according to cops.
Residents were confronted with red paint covering the steps, walls, sidewalk and lamps outside the entrance, along with graffiti reading, “Joe Kahn Lies, Gaza Dies” scrawled in black marker on the pavement.
No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing, the NYPD told The Post.
Investigators said the incident fits into a pattern of anti-Israel demonstrations targeting Kahn personally and accusing the Times of manufacturing consent for “genocide” in Gaza.
In December, protesters stormed the paper’s Midtown headquarters with similar slogans — smearing red paint at the entrance to the newspaper’s offices.
“People are free to disagree with The New York Times’s reporting but vandalism and targeting of individuals and their families crosses a line and we will work with authorities to address it,” a Times spokesperson said in a statement to The Post.
Kahn lives in one of the city’s most storied co-ops. The building at 43 Fifth Ave., a grand Beaux Arts edifice built in 1905, is considered one of Lower Fifth’s architectural jewels, with a limestone façade, wrought-iron balconies and an ornate marble lobby decorated with Art Nouveau bas reliefs.
The 11-story co-op, converted in 1978, houses just 42 apartments and is known for soaring ceilings, wood-burning fireplaces and old-world grandeur.
Public records show Kahn’s unit last sold for around $1.6 million in 2009, while larger apartments and penthouses in the building have commanded between $8 million and $17 million in recent years, according to Street Easy.
The building has long been a magnet for the famous and powerful. In 2005, Julia Roberts, Hollywood mega-star known for hit films such as “Ocean’s Eleven” and “Pretty Woman,” sold her penthouse in the co-op.
Marlon Brando, the Academy Award-winning actor, once lived there, as did novelist Dawn Powell.
The vandalism comes amid months of intensifying criticism of the Times’ coverage of the Gaza war.
Activists and watchdogs have accused the paper of biased language, downplaying Palestinian deaths, and sanitizing US and Israeli policy.
Last month, the Times ran a front-page story on famine in Gaza featuring the case of 18-month-old Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, portrayed as weighing as little as a 3-month-old due to starvation.
After backlash from Israeli officials and pro-Israel commentators who said the boy had pre-existing medical conditions, the Times appended a correction noting he suffered from health problems “affecting his brain and muscle development.”
The episode sparked fierce debate, with critics accusing the Gray Lady either of spreading “Hamas propaganda” or of bowing to political pressure and downplaying famine, even as international bodies formally declared parts of Gaza to be in a state of famine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently accused the Times of defaming Israel over its coverage of starvation in Gaza — adding that he was weighing a lawsuit against the Gray Lady.
Inside the newsroom, staff have clashed over sourcing in investigations of Hamas’ sexual violence, while unionized employees accused management of targeting Middle Eastern reporters.
Kahn took over as executive editor last year, succeeding Dean Baquet.
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