Racist Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was confronted by demonstrators in New Haven, Connecticut, Wednesday night, April 23. According to a statement and videos shared by his office, “Water bottles were thrown” at Ben Gvir when the far-right minister exited a building in front of protesters following a speech he gave at Shabtai a private Jewish society at Yale, not officially affiliated with the university.
The videos show hundreds of demonstrators shouting and chanting at the minister as he exits. In a separate video at least one person is seen being detained by police. Wednesday evening as the event began, protesters crowded the sidewalk outside the gated building while chanting “Free Palestine” and “Yale, your hands are red.” As attendees made their way into the venue, protesters yelled “shame” repeatedly and booed.
The group disbanded at 11 p.m. after “university officials articulated Yale’s policies and the consequences of violating them” and offered a final warning, the Yale spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. Some students who were warned by campus officials about previous incidents “that violated the school’s policy” were given written notices and “are subject to immediate disciplinary action,” the spokesperson added.
Earlier, a group of left-wing Israelis, arrived before the talk, holding Israeli flags as well as signs calling for the return of Israeli hostages in Gaza. One sign read “That fascist makes this Jew feel unsafe” next to a picture of Ben-Gvir. Shaul Yogev, an Israeli professor at the School of Medicine, said the group decided to show up early to avoid the later protesters, whose views they might not totally agree with. Ifat Levy, another Israeli professor at the School of Medicine, added that Shabtai’s invitation to Ben-Gvir doesn’t reflect the popular sentiment of the Jewish or Israeli communities in New Haven.
On Thursday, 41 Jewish Yalies signed a letter to the Yale News that condemned the invitation, “unequivocally rejecting the racist and reprehensible views of Itamar Ben-Gvir.” Yale’s chapter of J Street, wrote in an email to its members that “Ben-Gvir seeks to undermine Israeli democracy, continue forcing Palestinians from their land, and sabotage potential ceasefire in Gaza.” The Israeli coalition group in the United States, UnXeptable, which supports a democratic Israel against its ultra-right-wing government, also launched a petition that has been endorsed by more than 30 Jewish and Israeli organizations condemning Ben-Gvir’s visit to the United States.
“Imagine if someone from the KKK had been getting the role of defense minister,” Offir Gutelzon, a co-founder of UnXeptable, told the Yale News. “Ben-Gvir is one of those who believe there should be no Arabs in Israel, and under his role as national security minister, there was the biggest jump in murders within the Arab community in Israel.”
Ben-Gvir, who has past convictions for supporting terrorism and was considered persona non grata under the Biden administration, attended a fundraising event at the Florida resort on Tuesday, where he told attendees about harsh new measures implemented against Palestinian prisoners. “I love the American people very much,” Ben-Gvir told attendees via a translator. “We have a joint war against the Jihad.” Ben-Gvir’s spokesperson said the minister met with “dozens of senior businessmen from Miami” and the Republican House majority whip, Tom Emmer. Ben-Gvir posted on X that he “had the honor and privilege of meeting with senior Republican Party officials at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.” “They expressed support for my very clear position on how to act in Gaza and that the food and aid depots should be bombed in order to create military and political pressure to bring our hostages home safely.”
Ben Gvir has been public about his adoration for far-right President Donald Trump, proudly extolling his plan to resettle Gazans outside of the Palestinian territory. He quit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in January because he was opposed to the ceasefire deal that saw the return of Israeli hostages from Gaza in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. He only rejoined the government last month when Israel resumed its massacre in Gaza. Last October, a group of 90 congressional Democrats urged President Joe Biden to sanction Gvir and Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, both of whom lead racists parties within Netanyahu’s government. Ultimately, the Biden administration chose not to impose sanctions on Israeli government ministers.
