Protesters near Yale University throwing water bottles at Israeli far-right official

Hundreds of protesters in New Haven, Connecticut gathered late Wednesday to condemn the visit of Israel’s far-right national security secretary, who was invited to speak at an event near the Yale University campus.

Some protesters threw water bottles on official Itama Ben-Gvir, when he was at Yale’s private Jewish knowledge seminar, an event that had nothing to do with the university. According to Yale Daily News, more than 300 protesters gathered outside Shabtai House for hours, waving Israeli and Palestinian flags.

Earlier, a large group of students briefly set up a small tent camp on the Yale University campus square in protest of Mr. Ben Giver’s appearance.

Mr. Ben Giver has long been on the brink of Israeli politics and has been widely criticized for his extreme views. He was banned from serving in the Israeli army because he was regarded as a tai extremist. For some time, he had a portrait at the home of a man who shot and killed 29 Palestinians in a West Bank mosque in 1994.

Wednesday’s confrontation was due to the Trump administration’s targets for Columbia, Harvard and other elite universities, which has cut billions of dollars in federal funding to schools, including over-assertion that some have become bastions of anti-Semitism. (Yale University is not included in the list of 10 schools that the Federal Anti-Semitism Task Force is particularly concerned about.)

Harmeet Dhillon, a top lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division, responded to a video posted by a Jewish student on Wednesday, saying he had been blocked by earlier protests separated from the Shabtai House demonstrations.

The Justice Department said the Justice Department is “tracking Yale University’s activities” and “stays connected with affected students.”

The protests reminiscent of demonstrations against the Gaza War, rocked Yale and other universities across the country last spring and suggested campus administrators could compete with the turmoil in the coming weeks, even if the semester is much the same as the massive, destructive student protests this semester compared to a year ago.

In Colombia, students have protested in recent weeks against federal detention of pro-Palestine campus organizers, the school’s public safety office said Wednesday that it also “has been aware of the possible plans to build a camp.” In an email to students, the school said that while “free expression and right to protest” is valued, any tents erected will be deleted immediately.

According to the Students, some students were also hit by Aquarius during Wednesday night demonstrations near the Yale University campus. New Haven police said a man who was not a student kicked a car while driving by and was arrested and charged with misconduct and interfered with an officer.

Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration in March has officially gone to the United States for the first time.

The decision to invite the Secretary of National Security to the event sparked immediate opposition, including current and former Jewish students at Yale University, who pointed out his criminal conviction for inciting racism and support for terrorist organizations.

More than 40 Jewish alumni wrote in a letter this week that Mr. Ben Giver’s “celebration of hatred and revenge” was inconsistent with their Jewish values. Twenty Jewish clergy who graduated from Yale University called him “a danger to all Israelis and Palestinians.”

Ben-Gvir’s office said in a statement to CNN that the Aquarius had been thrown to him, but he was not injured and was “healthy”.

“Minister Ben Giverville refused to leave the scene and signed them the V logo, which was a sign of victory,” his office said.

Shabtai’s co-founder and Jewish director Rabbi Shmully Hecht did not respond to a request for comment. But Rabbi Hecht told the Jewish Telegraph Agency that it was an international news and wire service and he admired Mr Ben-Gvir, who said: “Promoting him that this is the best for the people who democratically choose him.”

The conflict broke out as some former Yale students expressed concern that their alma mater might come under fire from the Trump administration.

Thousands of alumni signed a letter from Yale President Maurie D. McInnis this month that called on executives to take a “stance of defending higher education from federal attacks.”

“Yale should now take action before it becomes a target,” the letter said. “By keeping silent and lobbying behind closed doors, you may be better than other institutions in the short term, but in the long run, you will assist in the demotion of higher education in this country.”

A Yale spokeswoman said President McInnis looked forward to discussing the petition with alumni and noted in a statement that Wednesday’s off-campus event with Mr Ben Givell was organized by an independent organization that did not receive Yale’s funding.

Yale said in another statement Wednesday that the tent camp was unauthorized and some participants were previously warned or disciplined for violating university rules. The school said the students received a written notice that “they are going to take immediate disciplinary action.”

The university revoked the club status of a pro-Palestine student organization, Yaleies4-Palestine, and school officials said the official “issued a phone call via social media asking others to join” the demonstration and joined another group to praise the activities in the public statement.

“Dissolving a group won’t stop sports,” the club wrote on Instagram.

“They can’t silence us,” the Post said. “Free Palestine.”

Uri Cohen, executive director of Slifka Center, belongs to the University’s Hillel Chapter, criticized the tent camp, calling it “highly reminiscent” of the demonstrations last spring and condemned the call for “uprising” that is “Arabic” (usually translated as “uprising”), which is part of the campaign.

Mr Cohen praised the Yale government’s response to the camp.

“Through this week’s action, Yale stands up in response to policy violations for its aid disciplinary measures for itself and all students,” he wrote in a letter to the center on Thursday.