Nora Moses, Contributing Photographer

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke at the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life last night. His visit ignited controversy within and outside Yale’s Jewish community. 

Bennett, a modern Orthodox Jew, served as the 13th prime minister of Israel from 2021 to 2022, before which he held a number of government roles, including Israeli minister of defense, minister of education and minister of the economy. He served in the Israeli Defense Force and fought in multiple conflicts, including the 2006 Lebanon war. 

Throughout his career, Bennett, who headed the New Right political party, faced sharp criticism for his opposition to a two-state solution and for supporting a total blockade of the Gaza Strip. He has received praise for lowering Israeli food prices, increasing the employment rate among Israeli-Arab women and for pushing to integrate more Haredi men into the workforce.

“The event itself was amazing, and I agreed with him on most things, much more than I thought I would have agreed with him on,” Elijah Wiesel ’28 said. “Bennett described himself as far-right for Israel, and that can be off-putting for an American Jew, who considers himself pretty centrist. But his takes were pretty sensible, and they weren’t classic American right-wing takes.”

Slifka Executive Director Uri Cohen announced the event in an email to Slifka’s mailing list. Registration for the event was limited to students and its ticket capacity of 100 was reached within minutes. 

Registered students were told not to bring any bags to the event and that recordings would be prohibited. Attendees were able to bring notebooks. 

“Israel remains a divisive topic across the global Jewish community specifically because of how much it means to so many of us in lots of different ways,” Cohen said in his email. “Slifka always seeks to build community and facilitate the exchange of ideas about all important Jewish conversations, including Israel.”

The event had heavy security. Two Yale Police Department cars were stationed outside Slifka. Security within the building was also strict and students were asked to show their Yale ID cards before entering the event room. Bennet was protected by multiple Israeli security guards, as dictated by Israeli law.

Two more Yale police cars, as well as police tape, blocked both entrances to Wall Street, the street on which Slifka is located. Three Yale police officers were also stationed at the entrance to Wall Street from College Street and questioned students on why they were entering before letting them through. 

Yalies4Palestine, or Y4P, the Yale chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, organized a protest against Bennett outside Sterling-Sheffield-Strathcona, approximately 500 feet from Slifka. The protest began at 6 p.m. and lasted an hour, after which many protesters headed to the Yale Political Union event featuring anti-Israel activist Norman Finkelstein. Protest organizers told the News that they had no plans to march toward Slifka.

Yale Police officers at the scene declined to confirm whether the blockade was created to stop protesters from entering Wall Street and referred the News to Yale’s Office of Public Affairs. 

At the Y4P protest, around 80 students stood outside in freezing temperatures to protest Bennett’s presence and Slifka’s decision to host him. The protest featured speeches, songs and repeated chants. Protesters also read out a list of Bennett’s most controversial quotes and policy decisions. After each item, the crowd shouted “shame.”

Y4P announced the protest via Instagram. The group also released a statement condemning the Slifka Center for hosting the event. 

“Bennett, a colonizer and war criminal, has been welcomed by the Slifka Center as a guest who ‘matches many of [Slifka’s] core values’ and ‘can share his unique perspectives, lessons, and truth,’” Y4P posted on Instagram, referring to the event email Cohen had sent to announce the event. “We condemn this invitation for what it is: a shameless attempt by Slifka to normalize settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and genocide on our campus, and to associate these crimes with Judaism.” 

Slifka was not immediately available for comment. 

Faisal Saleh, the founder of Palestine Museum US, a museum dedicated to Palestinian art and culture located in Woodbridge, Connecticut, also spoke at the protest. 

In his speech, Saleh spoke about his family’s origins in a village south of Tel Aviv, which, he explained, was “depopulated” and “bulldozed to the ground” by “Zionist forces” in 1948. 

In an interview with the News, Saleh described the decision to host Bennett as ironic, saying that Palestinian speakers often “get a lot of pushback.” 

“Why would a university like Yale invite somebody with such a war criminal record to talk and then make such a big deal about inviting some plain, ordinary Palestinians to a symposium or to participate in academic activities?” Saleh said. 

Bennett arrived at Slifka before 6 p.m. and sat for a “meet and greet” dinner with a select group of students from Slifka Center affiliated groups, including Yale Friends of Israel, or YFI, and J Street U.

“This event provided an invaluable opportunity to hear from a prominent leader in Israeli politics and business, and I am deeply honored to have had the chance to meet and learn from the former prime minister,” said YFI President Sophie Schonberger ’26. “As a Jewish institution, Slifka has an undeniable connection to Israel, which is reflected, among other things, in its stated commitment to Zionism.”

At 7 p.m., as attendants of the event began filling the Slifka lobby, a group of 12 students sat down on the lobby’s couches and began a singing circle. One student played the guitar as the group sang “Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu” — a Hebrew song whose lyrics call for “peace.” 

Organizers told the News that the singing circle was not affiliated with any particular group. Multiple student leaders on the Hillel Student Board participated in the singing circle.

“We wanted Naftali Bennett to hear our voices and know that we as Jews reject his hateful rhetoric and harmful policies towards the Palestinian people,” said Hannah Krenn ’25, an organizer of the singing circle. 

The singing circle participants unveiled signs that read “Jews for Palestinian Self-Determination” and “Naftali Bennett: Jews Say Shame on You.” By 7:30 p.m., when the last arriving students made their way upstairs to Bennett’s talk, the circle had swelled to around 20 participants.

From the large chapel on the Slifka Center’s second floor, where Bennett was due to speak, the circle’s singing could be heard faintly. When the event ended just before 9 p.m., over 30 students remained singing in the lobby while event attendees filed out. Bennett, having left through the building’s back exit before student attendees were allowed to leave the event room, did not walk by the singing circle.

Some event attendees criticized the song circle, telling the News that the counter protesters were disrespectful to Bennett, whom they thought deserved more courtesy.

The Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life opened in 1995.

Ariela Lopez contributed reporting.