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New York Times Reporter Apologizes for Leaking Personal Data From Jewish Group Chat Later Used to Harass Jews
A taxi passes by in front of The New York Times head office, Feb. 7, 2013. Photo: Reuters / Carlo Allegri / File.
A reporter for The New York Times has apologized for leaking data from a WhatsApp group chat for Jews in Australia that was then published online by anti-Israel activists who also harassed members of the chat.
Natasha Frost told The Wall Street Journal she shared the information from the group chat with only one person, who disseminated the data without her permission.
“Its subsequent dissemination and misuse happened entirely without my knowledge or consent,” she said in a statement shared by a Times spokesperson. “I was shocked by these events, which put me and many others at terrible risk. I deeply regret my decision, and I have no plans to comment further.”
The New York Times has taken disciplinary measures against Frost as a result of the incident. “It has been brought to our attention that a New York Times reporter inappropriately shared information with the subject of a story to assist the individual in a private matter, a clear violation of our ethics,” a spokesperson for the newspaper told The Wall Street Journal. “We have reviewed the matter and taken appropriate action.”
Frost — who is based in Melbourne, Australia — writes The New York Times’ weekday newsletter, The Europe Morning Briefing. She joined the publication in 2020 and before that worked for other media outlets such as Radio New Zealand and the BBC. She was raised in New Zealand and Singapore, and is a citizen of Austria and the United Kingdom. She graduated from the University of Oxford and Columbia Journalism School. Her latest piece for the Times was published on Monday.
In November, Frost obtained access to a WhatsApp group for Jewish creative professionals and academics in Australia that was set up in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel. In December, several members of the group called for action against the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) because of its decision to hire Lebanese-Australian journalist Antoinette Lattouf to host a Sydney radio show for five days. On social media, Lattouf has criticized Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, accusing the Jewish state of committing war crimes and genocide.
ABC ultimately cut Lattouf’s contract short and she filed a complaint, alleging that she faced racial discrimination and an unlawful dismissal. Frost co-wrote a story about Lattouf’s firing that was published by The New York Times on Jan. 23. Frost left the WhatsApp group chat days before the story went live and personal data from the chat was leaked online not long afterward.
During her time in the group chat, which had roughly 600 members, Frost downloaded and shared 900 pages worth of content that was later obtained by anti-Israel activists and widely shared online. The activists called it the “Zio600” list and published online a transcript of conversations from the group chat, as well as a spreadsheet that included names, photos, job titles, links to their social media accounts, and other personal details of many of the group’s members. Some of those mentioned in the leaked data were also harassed online and in person.
One Jewish member of the chat, gift shop owner Joshua Moshe, said he and his wife received hateful emails and phone calls in which they were called baby killers and genocidal maniacs. The couple’s shop in northern Melbourne was vandalized several times, and someone left Moshe an expletive-filled voicemail and then texted him a photo of his five-year-old son. Some group members faced such terrible harassment that they were forced to move or install additional security at their homes.
As a result, Australia’s Attorney General Mark Dreyfus proposed passing a new law that would make doxxing a criminal offense.
“The increasing use of online platforms to harm people through practices like doxxing, the malicious release of their personal information without their permission, is a deeply disturbing development,” Dreyfus, who is Jewish, told reporters in February. “The recent targeting of members of the Australian Jewish community through those practices like doxxing was shocking but, sadly, this is far from being an isolated incident.”
In May, the Australian government announced that it would bring forward legislation in early August to outlaw doxxing and amend the country’s Privacy Act.
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Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday
US President Donald Trump attends the Saudi-US Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
US President Donald Trump’s order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States goes into effect at 12:01 am ET (0401 GMT) on Monday, a move the president promulgated to protect the country from “foreign terrorists.”
The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The entry of people from seven other countries – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – will be partially restricted.
Trump, a Republican, said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security, have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.
He cited last Sunday’s incident in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new curbs are needed. But Egypt is not part of the travel ban.
The travel ban forms part of Trump’s policy to restrict immigration into the United States and is reminiscent of a similar move in his first term when he barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned expressed dismay and disbelief.
Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump’s action.
“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride,” he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the U.S. a luxury airplane for Trump’s use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the U.S.
Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban.
Democratic US lawmakers also voiced concern about the policies.
“Trump’s travel ban on citizens from over 12 countries is draconian and unconstitutional,” said US Representative Ro Khanna on social media late on Thursday. “People have a right to seek asylum.”
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Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a member of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in southern Syria’s Mazraat Beit Jin, days after Israel carried out its first airstrikes in the country in nearly a month.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the strike.
Israel said on Tuesday it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles towards Israel for the first time under the country’s new leadership. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz held Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa accountable.
Damascus in response said reports of the shelling were unverified, reiterating that Syria does not pose a threat to any regional party.
A little known group named “Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades,” an apparent reference to Hamas’ military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024, reportedly claimed responsibility for the shelling. Reuters, however, could not independently verify the claim.
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Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg
FILE PHOTO: Activist Greta Thunberg sits aboard the aid ship Madleen, which left the Italian port of Catania on June 1 to travel to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, in this picture released on June 2, 2025 on social media. Photo: Freedom Flotilla Coalition/via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told the military on Sunday to stop a charity boat carrying activists including Sweden’s Greta Thunberg who are planning to defy an Israeli blockade and reach Gaza.
Operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the British-flagged Madleen yacht set sail from Sicily on June 6 and is currently off the Egyptian coast, heading slowly towards the Gaza Strip, which is besieged by Israel.
“I instructed the IDF to act so that the Madleen .. does not reach Gaza,” Katz said in a statement.
“To the antisemitic Greta and her Hamas-propaganda-spouting friends, I say clearly: You’d better turn back, because you will not reach Gaza.”
Climate activist Thunberg said she joined the Madleen crew to “challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes” in Gaza and highlight the urgent need for humanitarian aid. She has rejected previous Israeli accusations of antisemitism.
Israel went to war with Hamas in October 2023 after the Islamist terrorists launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing more 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to the enclave.
Katz said the blockade was essential to Israel’s national security as it seeks to eliminate Hamas.
“The State of Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade on Gaza, whose primary purpose is to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas,” he said.
The Madleen is carrying a symbolic quantity of aid, including rice and baby formula, the FFC has said.
FFC press officer Hay Sha Wiya said on Sunday the boat was currently some 160 nautical miles (296 km) from Gaza. “We are preparing for the possibility of interception,” she said.
Besides Thunberg, there are 11 other crew members aboard, including Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.
Israeli media have reported that the military plans to intercept the yacht before it reaches Gaza and escort it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The crew would then be deported.
In 2010, Israeli commandos killed 10 people when they boarded a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, that was leading a small flotilla towards Gaza.
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