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<\/a><\/p>\nIsrael’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir gives a statement in the Knesset in Jerusalem in 2024. (Menahem Kahana \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Several progressive Jewish organizations have planned a protest at a plaza outside the United Nations, where Israeli media reported that the minister would be attending a conference on policing. Meanwhile, other left-wing groups have planned their own demonstrations and circulated an open letter with thousands of signatures calling for State Attorney General Letitia James to prosecute Ben-Gvir for war crimes upon his arrival.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s unclear whether Ben-Gvir is coming at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo our knowledge, Minister Ben-Gvir is not coming to New York at the moment,\u201d a staffer for the Consulate General of Israel in New York wrote the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in an email on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Separately, a UN official confirmed to JTA on Thursday that Ben-Gvir was not yet registered for the UN Chiefs of Police Summit, which brings together ministers and law enforcement leaders from around the world. The conference is taking place on July 7 and 8, though it is still possible for him to register in the coming days.<\/p>\n
Ben-Gvir, a highly controversial figure in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s Cabinet, is the leader of the country\u2019s far-right \u201cOtzma Yehudit,\u201d or \u201cJewish Power\u201d party. Before he entered the Knesset he was convicted of supporting a terrorist group and other offenses, and since taking office he has advocated for policies such as renewed Jewish settlement in Gaza and has been sanctioned for allegedly \u201cinciting extremist violence\u201d against Palestinians in the West Bank.<\/p>\n
Liberal Jewish groups have come out in vocal opposition to the idea of him setting foot in the Big Apple following Haaretz\u2019s initial reporting that Ben-Gvir was coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really important for people, both American Jews and Israelis, to say that extremists like Ben-Gvir aren\u2019t accepted in our community,\u201d Rabbi Jill Jacobs, head of the progressive rabbinic human rights group T\u2019ruah, told JTA in an interview. \u201cHe just doesn\u2019t belong in New York, or in the Israeli government, or espousing his views anywhere in Jewish society,\u201d <\/p>\n
T\u2019ruah is co-organizing a protest outside the UN\u2019s summit on Tuesday, along with close to a dozen other liberal Jewish groups. Among them are New York Jewish Agenda, J Street, Israelis for Peace and the Union for Reform Judaism.<\/p>\n
Jacobs said she believes the demonstration will be particularly impactful because it\u2019s coming from \u201cpeople who are not looking to destroy the state, who are not anti-Israel in any way,\u201d but who envision a \u201cplace of both Israelis and Palestinians being safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another planned protest scheduled just hours later at the same plaza is being led by left-wing groups more sharply critical of Israel. Anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace is among the organizations promoting it. Their open letter calling on James to prosecute Ben-Gvir has more than 6,500 signatures.<\/p>\n
The last time Ben-Gvir visited New York City, just over a year ago, his presence drew a series of heated protests and counter-protests. A few of them took place in Crown Heights, the neighborhood where he visited 770 Eastern Parkway, the headquarters of the Chabad Hasidic movement. <\/p>\n
He also made pit stops at another Chabad institution and the gravesite of the movement\u2019s late leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, as well as at a Midwood kosher restaurant, where he drew a friendlier crowd. A number of other planned events during that trip were canceled the week before.<\/p>\n
The same coalition of liberal Jewish groups held a rally last year outside a Wall Street restaurant where Ben-Gvir was speaking. New York Rep. Jerry Nadler introduced legislation during that rally aimed at combating settler violence in the West Bank.<\/p>\n
Margo Hughes-Robinson, who\u2019s now the executive director of NYJA, co-emceed last year\u2019s demonstration. She said in an interview on Thursday that she hopes that elected officials attend this year\u2019s and make clear that \u201cwhat he represents, and his worldview, is anathema to our Jewish values, it\u2019s anathema to the vision of Israel that we support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ben-Gvir was slated to make another trip to the U.S. more recently for a wedding, though he ended up canceling the trip after he was asked to provide his fingerprints in order to obtain a visa.<\/p>\n
Unlike during Ben-Gvir\u2019s last visit, New York\u2019s mayor is now an anti-Zionist who has vowed to arrest Netanyahu if he steps foot in Israel due to his outstanding International Criminal Court arrest warrant, even though the US is not a party to the ICC. (There is no reported ICC arrest warrant for Ben-Gvir.) Following the election of Zohran Mamdani, Ben-Gvir described the result as \u201ca moment when antisemitism triumphed over common sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mamdani\u2019s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n
A number of local officials spoke out following the most recent appearance of a far-right Israeli minister in New York, condemning finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who attended the Israel Day parade. None have weighed in so far on Ben-Gvir\u2019s possible return next week.<\/p>\n