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A far right pro-Israel group that has spent years harassing pro-Palestine advocates in the U.S. is slated to end operations in New York state after an investigation by state Attorney General Letitia James found that the group has carried out a “campaign of violence, harassment, and intimidation.”
Betar US, the American branch of a militant Zionist movement, has indicated to New York’s Office of the Attorney General that it is winding down operations after being ordered to do so by a settlement with the state. If the group violates the orders to end its harassment campaigns, it will be subject to a $50,000 fine, according to a press release by the office.
The office said its investigation “uncovered evidence of Betar’s widespread persecution of Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, and Jewish New Yorkers, driven by broad hostility and animus toward several protected groups,” including those exercising their rights to protest.
“New York will not tolerate organizations that use fear, violence, and intimidation to silence free expression or target people because of who they are,” said James in a statement. “My office’s investigation uncovered an alarming and illegal pattern of bias-motivated harassment and violence designed to terrorize communities and shut down lawful protest.”
Indeed, pro-Palestine protesters in New York have faced relentless targeting by Betar, which has organized violent counterprotests; claimed to have sent the Trump administration a list of pro-Palestine students to deport; and repeatedly incited and celebrated violence against protesters and Palestinians facing genocide in Gaza.
James’s office raised incidents where Betar members referred to keffiyehs as “rape rags” and its X account said that the number of babies killed in Gaza was “not enough,” declaring, “we demand blood in Gaza.”
At the same time, Betar has repeatedly claimed victimhood, once saying that a “pogrom” occurred after the group encouraged members to “wear masks and bring pitbulls” to violently counterprotest a pro-Palestine Brooklyn demonstration last winter, predictably prompting the pro-Palestine activists to fight back.
The investigation found that, last year, Betar members approached people who look Muslim or supportive of Palestine and forced “beepers” onto them or into their pockets, in reference to Israel’s beeper attack in Lebanon that killed and wounded thousands across the country in 2024. At a 2025 vigil for Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, Betar members showed up and chanted “we’re with ICE,” telling attendees, “show us your faces so we could get you deported,” The Intercept reported.
Many pro-Palestine activists have said they have been personally targeted by Betar. The Department of Homeland Security has reportedly probed activists named by Betar, as well as thousands of others who have been listed on pro-Israel doxxing website Canary Mission.
Pro-Palestine advocates have celebrated the shutdown of Betar.
“We applaud Attorney General James for holding this racist, pro-Israel militant group accountable for its alleged harassment of New Yorkers opposed to Israel’s human rights abuses,” said Afaf Nasher, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’s New York branch. “The shutdown of Betar’s campaign of harassment in New York is a historic and positive step toward protecting New Yorkers who have faced intimidation simply for advocating for Palestinian human rights.”
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