Six people were busted during a tense confrontation outside the Lubavitcher world headquarters in Brooklyn during a protest over the appearance of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as the controversial leader’s visit to the United States draws criticism.
Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist settler leader once on the fringes of Israeli politics, has sparked controversy in both New York and Connecticut on his first official U.S. state visit since joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet in 2022.
His appearances near Yale University in New Haven, Conn. Wednesday drew hundreds of demonstrators, along with the resignations of several members of the Jewish society that hosted him.
The state visit has not only ignited fierce protests but “exposed big fissures in American Judaism,” said David Vincent Kimel, a former member of Shabtai, the group that hosted Ben-Gvir near Yale University.
Prior to the Brooklyn episode, Ben-Gvir was speaking to a small crowd at a Manhattan steakhouse Thursday afternoon when a man who had been hiding in a bathroom for two hours stormed into the private event. “Get the [expletive] out of New York!” cried the protester.
In Brooklyn, five of the six people arrested were later issued summonses for disorderly conduct and released. One other suspect, Oscar Vidal, 28, of Bayonne, was arrested and charged with assault, criminal mischief and harassment. Poiice said he assaulted a 29-year-old man. Various videos showed police making arrests as well as a woman with a bloody face.
At one point, an anti-Israel protester stormed into the room where Ben-Gvir was speaking and chanted “Free Palestine” before he was thrown out by security, 7 Israel National News reported.
Police estimated that about 250 people in total showed up, including about three dozen opposed to Bern-Gvir’s appearance.
Rabbi Motti Seligson, a spokesperson for Chabad, said Ben-Gvir was invited by some members of the community, but that the event was not officially sanctioned or organized by the synagogue’s leadership.
Two men reported being robbed during the demonstration.
One, 48, told police he was surrounded by up to 30 people. He was punched and knocked to the ground, then kicked, he told police, then someone took his hat and phone. One the suspects busted his phone and someone ran off with his hat.
The other victim, 18, said several attackers punched him, stole and broke his glasses and threatened him.
“Watch your life,” he was told. “You lost your right to live.”
