Crowd Fills Streets To Protest Israeli Minister

(Updated) Up to 200 protesters ranging from kaffiyeh-clad pro-Palestine activists to yarmulke-wearing pro-Israel Jews gathered at the intersection of Orange and Trumbull streets Wednesday
evening to protest the arrival of far right-wing Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to address a Jewish student society called Shabtai.

The night ended with bottles thrown at the visiting minister and one arrest of a protester.

Pro-Palestine protesters began rallying outside Shabtai, located at 442 Orange St., at around 6 p.m. Shabtai was founded and is run by local megalandlord Rabbi Shmully Hecht, who calls himself a Ben-Gvir admirer.

Ben-Gvir himself entered Shabtai, accompanied by security and Hecht, at 7:30 p.m. His entrance was met by a chorus of boos and chants of shame, which he appeared to delight in. Ben-Gvir stopped to flash two fingers and film the crowd before entering the building

Ben-Gvir emerged from Shabtai shortly before 10 p.m. He waved at protesters. They lustily booed him and then started throwing water bottles at the Israeli minister, who went back inside. Protesters also threw water bottles at a group of attendees leaving the event.

Protesters dispersed shortly afterwards when police informed them that Ben-Gvir had departed. By 10:47, the sidewalk was empty and Orange Street was open.

Hours Of Protest

Hasham, who gave only his first name, traveled from Hartford to New Haven Wednesday ​“for all the kids killed in Palestine.”

Hasham, who is Egyptian, said he’s against all killing. And he thinks Ben-Gvir’s visit to Shabtai is shameful. ​“Shame on Yale,” he said.

“I admire Ben Gvir,” Hecht told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency when asked about why he invited him. ​“Itamar promotes what he believes is best for his people that democratically elected him.”

In advance of Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to New Haven Wednesday, local Jewish leaders and national Jewish organizations publicly condemned the Israeli national security minister.

Well before the event, a small group of local Jews and Israelis also gathered on the sidewalk outside Shabtai at 442 Orange St., where Ben-Gvir will later be speaking, at around 4:30 p.m.

Protesters held signs demanding the release of hostages held in Gaza, waved an Israeli flag, and hammered home a common idea: Zionist Jews across the political spectrum should be horrified by Ben-Gvir’s racism and embrace of political violence. 

Ben-Gvir — dubbed by the New Yorker ​“Israel’s minister of chaos” — has at least eight criminal convictions, including for incitement to racism and support for a terrorist organization. He’s said that one of his heroes is a mass murderer who gunned down 29 Muslims while they were praying at a holy site. Ben-Gvir rose to the role of national security minister after his far-right party joined a coalition within the Netanyahu government. His critics assail him for adhering to a Jewish supremacist ideology and for being one of his country’s ​“worst extremists.”

One of the protesters on-hand was Beth El-Keser Israel (BEKI) Rabbi Eric Woodward, who described Ben-Gvir as a ​“dangerous person,” who he said should ​“go back to Israel and think about what he’s done.” 

Woodward said Ben-Gvir’s visit had disturbed members of his congregation, and that it was unnecessarily inflammatory, especially in a political climate where the Trump administration is using the excuse of combatting antisemitism to eliminate free speech protections. 

He also criticized Shabtai for hosting the Israeli politician on Yom HaShoah, which is celebrated in Israeli and many Jewish diaspora communities as Holocaust remembrance day.

“You have to be very far out of the mainstream for all these people across the political spectrum to condemn you,” Naftali Kaminski, an Israeli professor at the Yale School of Medicine who attended the protest, reflected. ​“And Ben-Gvir is.” 

Jewish groups across the country had spent the day condemning Ben-Gvir’s visit even before protests began to gather on Orange Street.

“He is not welcome in our country. He does not represent us as Jews or as Israelis. We steadfastly oppose his dark vision for Judaism, Israel and for the Middle East,” the pro-democracy Israeli expat group UnXeptable said in a statement.

Woodward also sent out an email Wednesday afternoon indicating that the Rabbinical Assembly — the rabbinical group that organizes Conservative Judaism — has also signed on to UnXeptable’s statement about Ben-Gvir’s visit to the U.S.

“Opposing Ben-Gvir while supporting Israel should not be a controversial take,” Woodward wrote in his email to BEKI congregants. ​“Just like opposing Pat Buchanan does not make you anti-American. But it is getting increasingly hard to publicly hold views that are outside of angry and unproductive binaries.”

The liberal Zionist nonprofit J Street has also sent out several email blasts urging its members to speak out against Ben-Gvir’s visit to New Haven.

“As Jewish and pro-Israel Americans, we want to make one thing clear: Itamar Ben-Gvir does not speak in our names,” reads an online petition entitled, ​“Itamar Ben-Gvir: Get Outta Here.”

“Not when he sabotages the ceasefire and hostage deal. Not when he slanders hostage families and peace advocates. Not when he supports anti-democratic crackdowns. Not when he spouts anti-Palestinian hate. Not when he shields violent settlers from accountability.

“So, as he comes to our country and our community and seeks support and a platform, we’re joining together to say one thing clearly: Itamar Ben-Gvir: Get Outta Here!”

One of the first pro-Palestine protesters to arrive was Andrew Rice of Milford, who came sporting a keffiyeh wrapped around his head and toting a large Palestinian flag.

“I peacefully object to giving a platform to someone who is committing genocide, who is wanted by the ICC for war crimes against humanity, for the starvation of children, burning children alive and all the terrifying and gruesome actions that he has taken funded by our tax dollars,” Rice said.

An organizer with We Will Return and protest emcee, who requested anonymity due to safety concerns, said that if he could speak with Ben-Gvir, he would tell the Israeli official ​“you are the living scum of the earth … You are not welcome in this country and not welcome as a fellow member of this community.”

Local landlord Mendy Paris showed up wrapped in an Israeli flag. He accused the protesters of being ​“Jew haters.”

Asif Jaferi, a Wallingford resident who used to live in New Haven and who is Pakistani, said he showed up to do his part for the anti-genocide movement.

He supports free speech, but thinks everyone should be aware of just how extreme of a figure Ben-Gvir is.

“He’s very vocal about Palestinian occupation,” he said about Ben-Gvir.

A group of approximately 20 anti-Zionist Haredi Jews from New York were also in attendance, holding signs calling for the ​“dismantling of the Israeli state.” The group, part of Neturei Karta International, a worldwide anti-Zionist group, is being led by Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, who described Ben-Gvir as ​“an agent of Satan.”

“We are taught [in Judaism] not to kill and not to steal,” Dovid Weiss said, explaining why he had travelled from New York. ​“The Palestinian people are being murdered, and the world is silent. How could we be silent when we’re witnessing tens of thousands of children being killed, people are being starved to death, with no food and no medical aid.”