Extremist Israeli minister Ben-Gvir confronted at Capitol: "You are a racist war criminal"
Washington DC - Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir was greeted by Palestine solidarity protesters when he arrived at the US Capitol on Monday.
"You are responsible for genocide! You are a racist pig!" protesters inside the Capitol shouted at Ben-Gvir in video shared on social media.
"You are a racist war criminal, and you are hurting my religion, my religion as a Jew. You are creating the antisemitism," CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin can be heard telling the far-right Israeli official, who joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet in 2022.
Ben-Gvir responds with wild accusations of "You kill baby" and "You supported 9/11."
"I never supported 9/11. You support genocide, and you're destroying Judaism with your hate," Benjamin retorts. "Baby killer! Extremist! Racist! Ethnic cleanser! Get out of our House! We don't want you here."
Separate videos shared by American Muslims for Palestine show protesters yelling at Ben-Gvir, "You killed my family in Gaza!"
Ben-Gvir – a convicted supporter of Israeli terrorist groups and one of the biggest backers of plans to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip – reportedly met with four Republican members of Congress during his visit:
- Jim Jordan of Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee
- Claudia Tenney of New York, head of the "Friends of Judea and Samaria Caucus"
- Mike Lawler of New York, chair of the House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee
- Brian Mast of Florida, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
The trip also included a visit to Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, where Ben-Gvir said he met with Republican leaders who expressed support for his plan to bomb Gaza food and aid depots.
Ben-Gvir slammed as "war criminal" and "coward"
Throughout his time in the US, Ben-Gvir was met with protests amid Israel's ongoing atrocities in Palestine.
The Capitol meetings took place on the US Council of Muslim Organizations' 10th annual National Muslim Advocacy Day.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) accused Ben-Gvir during the visit of directing a member of his security detail to harass Sabrene Odeh, community legal advocate with the organization's Washington state chapter. She is Palestinian-American and was wearing a keffiyeh.
"When visiting Palestine, I’ve been around Israeli soldiers, but it was different to see a war criminal walking in our halls of Congress. If Itamar Ben-Gvir and his thugs think they can intimidate Americans visiting Congress, they are mistaken," Odeh said in a statement.
"This is the United States, not Israeli-occupied territory. Approaching and attempting to intimidate me or anyone else for wearing a sign of Palestinian culture is a racist act of harassment that should be unacceptable in our nation."
CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert S. McCaw echoed, "Ben-Gvir is a racist, a war criminal and a coward who should be in The Hague, not wandering the halls of Congress and harassing Americans."
Cover photo: Screenshot/X/@itamarbengvir