Rosenthal was banished from the NYT in the late 90's, or before. First he became editor emeritus, and then became the editor for Jewish/Christian news. Although he was Jewish, himself, he had a magnanimous attitude toward Middle Eastern Christians. I always enjoyed his columns.
It was that Punch somebody who kicked him out.
It is getting hard to peg just exactly what drives the NY Times now. Liberalism certainly does, but do they now show a penchant for tossing any liberal under the bus if it will drive sales? Looks like it. They seem to be a paper now that is driven towards appealing to the middle management class.
"Pinch" Sulzberger