Ben-Gvir, wife attacked by anti-Zionist haredim in Beit Shemesh

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and his wife Ayala were attacked on Thursday by members of an anti-Zionist Jewish sect during a visit to the city of Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem, police said.

“Jerusalem District police and Border Police officers were dispatched to Hillel Street in Beit Shemesh in the past hour for a public disturbance involving hundreds of participants who surrounded the vehicle of the minister of national security as he passed by and attempted to damage his car,” according to an Israel Police statement posted to social media.

Ayala Ben-Gvir was “attacked and injured” by the rioters as officers attempted to break up the crowds, the police statement confirmed.

Israel’s Ynet news outlet reported that the minister’s wife was hit by a member of the radical anti-Zionist Haredi Neturei Karta faction. She responded by slapping back in self-defense, the news outlet stated.

Ben-Gvir was reportedly being driven through the city, located some 12 miles west of Jerusalem in the Judean Foothills, when he noticed spray-painted Palestinian flags on a wall and stopped to inform police.

Hundreds of Neturei Karta members arrived at the scene, with activists attempting to attack Ben-Gvir while shouting, “Zionist,” “murderer,” “you are in favor of army conscription” and “get out of here.”

Police were rushed to the scene and, using stun grenades, batons and other crowd-control measures, attempted to quash the riot. Footage showed an officer hurling a stun grenade toward the Haredim.

Following the incident, police officers erased the Palestinian flags from the walls at Ben-Gvir’s request, according to widespread media reports.

Neturei Karta is a fringe ultra-Orthodox Jewish group that opposes Zionism and believes a Jewish state should not be established before the arrival of the Messiah.

Headquartered in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood, the global organization has repeatedly caused controversy for its alignment with radical anti-Israel and antisemitic groups and regimes.

In 2020, members of the sect attended the funeral of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in Tehran, following his assassination in Baghdad by the United States.

In January 2023, Neturei Karta activists visited Jenin in Samaria, where they met with a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.

Later that year, the group met with then Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during the U.N. General Assembly annual general debate in New York.