On April 23, Shabtai, a "Jewish leadership society" at Yale, will host Itamar Ben-Gvir, the current National Security Minister of Israel, to speak to Yale students and faculty. He should never have been invited.

Ben-Gvir has been convicted of "incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization". He has bragged about thwarting a ceasefire a hostage release deal “time after time.” He is a longtime supporter of the extremist ideology of Kahanism (which holds that democracy is incompatible with Judaism and advocates for “vengeance on… the goyim” as the reason for Israel’s being)— in a video from 2018, Ben-Gvir “insists passionately, repeatedly, …that his Otzma Yehudit movement is emphatically the reincarnation of the Kahanist movement.” He has stated that “my right, the right of my wife and my children to move around Judea and Samaria is more important than freedom of movement for the Arabs.” He has asserted that LGBTQ people “have no place… anywhere in Israel.” He is known for personally venerating Baruch Goldstein, the mass murderer of 29 Muslims who were worshipping at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, for that crime. He has called for detention of suspects without trial and advocated repeatedly for the assassination of Palestinians suspected of terrorist activity. He has pushed to use the current war as an "opportunity" to implement “[t]he emigration of hundreds of thousands from Gaza” and called in June 2023 for a military offensive and widespread Israeli settlement in the West Bank, in violation of international law. Ben-Gvir supports U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan for the Gaza Strip, which according to the chair of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory is "ethnic cleansing". These are merely the highlights of his resume. For more, on Ben-Gvir’s clear record of extremist hate, read Liam Hamama’s opinion piece in this newspaper.

As Jewish Yalies, we unequivocally reject the racist and reprehensible views of Itamar Ben-Gvir. We are disappointed in Shabtai for choosing to platform such views. Doing so launders the reputation of a man who has long been and continues to be an extremist. We are also disappointed in Rabbi Shmully Hecht, co-founder and advisor at Shabtai, for publicly praising Ben-Gvir. We share Rabbi Hecht’s "Talmudic" commitment to "free discourse". However, “free discourse” does not demand that those who incite racist violence be treated as honored guests.

We have just celebrated Pesach, a holiday which teaches us "to make liberty an instrument of service"; to "love the stranger because we were strangers in the land of Egypt"; "to stand for all those who are unable to stand for themselves"; and to “exhibit… mercy and lovingkindness toward our fellow” people . Ben-Gvir’s celebration of hatred and revenge is inconsistent with these teachings and our Jewish values. As Jewish Yalies, we are committed to tikkun olam (repairing the world); Itamar Ben-Gvir has worked all his life to break the world further.

Ben-Gvir does not represent us. He is not welcome here.

Sincerely,

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