(VINnews) — Anti-Semitic sentiment among New York Times reporters has reached a new low: the perpetrator of a massive data “doxxing” and leak of personal information from a WhatsApp group chat of Jewish businessmen is a Times reporter with a long record of anti-Israel bias.
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This diabolical breach has resulted in hundreds of Jewish members of Australian WhatsApp groups being doxxed and subjected to anti-Semitic harassment, with some being forced to close their businesses and evacuate their homes.
Natasha Frost, a Melbourne-based reporter for The New York Times, admitted earlier this year to downloading and sharing 900 pages of content from private WhatsApp chats set up by Jewish professionals in the wake of the October 7 attacks.
Frost acknowledged to The Wall Street Journal that he shared the information.
Hundreds of people in the group chat were shocked to find their personal information was circulating online, and some were subjected to online and in-person harassment, forcing them to leave their homes.
One member of the WhatsApp group, Joshua Moshe, said he and his wife began receiving threatening calls and emails calling them baby-killers and genocidal lunatics. He also received text messages with photos of his 5-year-old son attached.
Moshe’s gift shop in Melbourne was vandalized with graffiti and stickers depicting the Israeli flag crossed out, urging potential customers to boycott the store. Moshe eventually closed his shop and his family was forced to relocate to another area.
A Jewish high school teacher from Melbourne, who was also on the WhatsApp chat, said her school had received calls and threats from anonymous people accusing them of “participating in genocide”.
Other professionals in the WhatsApp chat reported losing jobs and business opportunities.
In the February incident, a spreadsheet was created listing the names, photos, job titles and quotes from WhatsApp groups, resulting in a list called “Zio600” that was used to blackmail people in the WhatsApp group.
Pro-Palestinian activists posted the names, photos and social media pages of many of the group’s members, leading to online and in-person harassment, intimidation and vandalism.
A Times spokesman said the company had “reviewed the matter and taken appropriate action,” but it was unclear what the outcome of any action, if any, would be.
A few days before the article was published, Frost left the WhatsApp group, and shortly thereafter details of the group chat were posted on various websites and widely shared among pro-Palestinian internet users.
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