In one of the scariest moments in modern history, we're doing our best at ScheerPost to pierce the fog of lies that conceal it but we need some help to pay our writers and staff. Please consider a tax-deductible donation.
By Ali Abunimah / The Electronic Intifada
Zionist group Betar waged a campaign of violence, intimidation and harassment targeting Palestinian, Arab, Muslim and Jewish activists in violation of New York civil rights laws, the state’s attorney general, Letitia James, announced on Tuesday.
The Electronic Intifada has also learned that federal prosecutors are investigating a February 2025 incident in Brooklyn in which – according to the New York attorney general – members of Betar attacked Palestine solidarity protesters and in which at least one activist was stabbed.
Betar faces a civil fine of $50,000 but this will be suspended under a settlement agreement with the attorney general in which the hate group agreed to cease its campaign of violence and incitement. Betar will only have to pay the fine if it violates the agreement.
“New York will not tolerate organizations that use fear, violence and intimidation to silence free expression or target people because of who they are,” James said. “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.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani welcomed the settlement, noting that “Betar has sowed a campaign of hatred across New York, trafficking in Islamophobic extremism.”
However, Mamdani pointedly failed to note that supporters of Palestinian rights have been Betar’s primary targets.
In December, The Electronic Intifada revealed for the first time that Betar – also known as Betar USA and Betar Worldwide – was the subject of a law enforcement investigation, but its substance was unknown until now.
The Electronic Intifada had filed a complaint with the New York attorney general alleging that Betar was raising money in violation of state laws.
The attorney general confirmed in the settlement agreement that – as The Electronic Intifada alleged – Betar had been soliciting donations in New York without registering with the state’s Charities Bureau, as required by law.
According to the attorney general’s office, “Betar is seeking to dissolve its not-for-profit corporation” and has indicated “that it is winding down operations in New York.”
Terror and violence
The factual findings of the attorney general’s civil rights investigation into Betar, outlined in the settlement agreement, lay bare the group’s violent extremism in support of Israel.
These include Betar describing its mission as to “[g]et Jews armed” and to “attend and disrupt” Palestine solidarity protests.
The group described its own members as “cruel” and “aggressive” and asserted that “violence is needed.”
“Betar’s violence and harassment are motivated by the anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment expressed by its leadership and members,” the attorney general found.
The attorney general also noted Betar’s notorious declarations in the midst of the Israeli genocide that “not enough” Palestinian babies had been killed and “we demand blood in Gaza.”
According to the investigation, Betar’s bloodcurdling statements were translated into actual assaults and violence against individuals in New York.
The group “encourages its members to bring weapons to pro-Palestinian protests,” the attorney general found, including pepper spray, knives with wrist straps and tactical flashlights that, according to Betar, are “both blinding and strong enough to whack them in the face with.”
Betar members repeatedly forced beepers on people – an act described by the attorney general as “a threatening reference to the September 2024 operation in which Israel detonated pagers held by alleged members” of the Lebanese resistance group Hizballah.
In fact, Israel’s pager attack killed at least 12 people, including two health workers and two children, and injured 2,800 more.
At an 18 February 2025 Palestine solidarity rally in Brooklyn’s Borough Park neighborhood, “Betar members attacked protesters and at least one activist was stabbed,” according to the investigation.
The group later boasted on social media about the violence its members had perpetrated.
In another incident, a member of Betar’s national leadership “physically struck a woman at a protest wearing a kuffiyeh” – the traditional Palestinian headscarf which Betar described as “rape rags” – and members often followed and stalked people based on their perceived identity.
Notoriously, Betar publicly boasted about compiling lists of activists for the Trump administration to deport based on their support for Palestinian liberation.
The attorney general found that Betar’s threats to report people to the Trump administration for deportation in retaliation for their speech violated state civil rights laws.
Betar does not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement agreement.
“A good start but it’s not enough”
Nerdeen Kiswani, a Palestinian New Yorker who founded the activist group Within Our Lifetime, has been a constant target of Betar’s harassment.
She remains skeptical about the settlement.
“Betar put a bounty on me and even encouraged people to throw things at me from New York City skyscrapers for speaking out for Palestine, yet those who orchestrated and financed this harassment still face no accountability,” Kiswani told The Electronic Intifada.
She views the attorney general’s action as “symbolic at best as Betar continues its campaign against Palestinians and anyone who stands in solidarity with us.”
For Kiswani, “there is no real justice for the harm they’ve already done to our communities and the Palestinian movement.”
Jenin Younes, legal director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the settlement was “a good start but it’s not enough.”
“Betar is a terrorist, hate organization: It openly endorses and threatens violence against Palestinians and Muslims (including me), and those who advocate for Palestinian rights,” Younes added. “They should have their tax-exempt status revoked and individual members should be investigated for crimes.”
Criminal prosecutions?
Afaf Nasher, executive director of the Muslim civil rights organization CAIR-NY, welcomed the settlement with Betar and applauded the New York attorney general “for holding this racist, pro-Israel militant group accountable for its alleged harassment of New Yorkers opposed to Israel’s human rights abuses.”
Nasher called on “the federal government to account for and end any contact with Betar” and urged “law enforcement to hold the organization accountable for any criminal harassment it has allegedly committed.”
The New York State Office of the Attorney General, however, only has civil jurisdiction over the matter, not criminal. Its investigation was carried out under laws that only allow it to impose financial penalties for civil rights violations.
Criminal charges and prosecutions related to the attacks on protesters described in the attorney general’s investigation would therefore have to be brought by other entities, for example the New York Police Department and local district attorneys.
The Tuesday announcement from the attorney general is silent about whether that is happening.
Federal takeover
On 14 January, The Electronic Intifada spoke with a press officer for the Brooklyn District Attorney – the office that would typically prosecute these kinds of crimes.
The press officer said she was familiar with the incidents described in the settlement agreement, particularly those related to the 18 February 2025 protest in Borough Park.
She stated that the Brooklyn DA has not filed any charges in that incident because the investigation has been taken over by the federal government – the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
“The Feds took over that case. We had nothing to do with that,” the press officer said.
The Electronic Intifada left a message on the US attorney’s press line seeking comment but has received no response.
Given the Trump administration’s moves to assert control over federal prosecutors, including the Southern District of New York, and in the absence of other indications, many will wonder whether the US attorney took over this case to advance it or to slow walk it.
The Electronic Intifada also sent a request for comment to the NYPD but received no response.
Betar’s evasions
The settlement agreement gives the New York attorney general’s office the right to collect the $50,000 fine if it finds that Betar violates the deal at any time over the next three years.
Notably, on the same day Attorney General Letitia James announced the settlement, The Electronic Intifada documented that Betar was still soliciting donations to an address in New York.
After this writer challenged the group about this on Twitter/X, Betar removed the address from its website.
The group now claims that “Betar US is a Delaware-based nonprofit. We requested to be disbanded in NY in March and have no presence in [New York City] since then.”
Betar also asserted on Twitter/X: “We are headquartered in Israel, where this account, Betar Worldwide, is run from.”
According to Israel’s justice ministry database, a private company called “Betar USA” was registered in Israel in 2021.
Betar has previously stated that its offices in Israel share the same building as the ruling Likud Party.
The Electronic Intifada located a Delaware registration for “Betar Zionist Movement, Inc.”
Betar responded evasively when asked via Twitter/X if it had relinquished its federal charitable status, which allows it to receive tax-deductible donations in the United States.
“There are no innocents in Gaza”
On their face, Betar’s statements may indicate the group’s eagerness to appear compliant with the settlement.
Another interpretation is that Betar is attempting to create the impression that it is operating outside and beyond the reach of New York and can therefore continue to do as it pleases – inciting violence and hatred against Muslims, Palestinians and others everywhere, including in New York.
Under the settlement’s terms, however, Betar agreed that New York would retain jurisdiction in any follow-up actions.
Yet there is no sign that Betar plans to let up on its campaign of inciting hatred and supporting genocide.
In one Twitter/X post published after the settlement was announced, Betar declares, “there are no innocents in Gaza.”
In another, Betar suggests that it has been banned or “barred” from operating in New York.
In fact, the settlement stipulates that Betar entered into the agreement with the state “freely and voluntarily.”
The day before the settlement was announced – but undoubtedly already concluded – Betar posted a tweet wishing harm on Ms. Rachel, the children’s entertainer who has been targeted with hatred for supporting Palestinian children injured in the Gaza genocide.
According to public reporting, Ms. Rachel is a long-time New York City resident.
Decades of impunity
Anyone active in the Palestine solidarity movement knows that while Betar has been good at attracting publicity, its venomous hatred and racism are far from exceptional among Zionist groups and activists.
In October, the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee marked the 40th anniversary of the murder of its West Coast director Alex Odeh, in the bombing of his Santa Ana, California, office.
US-born Jewish Defense League member Andy Green, who changed his name to Baruch Ben Yosef, is the prime suspect in Odeh’s murder and a string of bombings in the US in the 1980s.
Ben Yosef, a former right-hand man to arch-racist Rabbi Meir Kahane, and one other suspect in Odeh’s killing, have been living openly in Israel for decades – with no serious efforts by US authorities to extradite them.
Ronn Torossian, Betar’s principal figure – and the signer of the settlement with New York – is also a fanatical Kahanist, who praised the rabbi – known for championing the expulsion of all Palestinians from their homeland – as “the greatest Jewish leader ever.”
In a political context where Palestinians and their supporters face attacks not only from Zionist extremists, but also from governments and university administrations that habitually demonize, criminalize and punish them, the New York attorney general’s action on Betar can be seen as an unprecedented step in the right direction.
But it is also fair to ask why it took so long for any official action to protect Palestinian and other activists from such violence, harassment and intimidation, and what it will take for other jurisdictions to follow suit.
Editor’s Note: At a moment when the once vaunted model of responsible journalism is overwhelmingly the play thing of self-serving billionaires and their corporate scribes, alternatives of integrity are desperately needed, and ScheerPost is one of them. Please support our independent journalism by contributing to our online donation platform, Network for Good, or send a check to our new PO Box. We can’t thank you enough, and promise to keep bringing you this kind of vital news.
You can also make a donation to our PayPal or subscribe to our Patreon.
Ali Abunimah
Ali Abunimah is the director of The Electronic Intifada. Author of “One Country”and “The Battle for Justice in Palestine.”