Imagine a Yale-affiliated organization inviting a white supremacist speaker who, for years, displayed a photo of Dylann Roof — the man who murdered nine Black parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston — on the wall of his living room. It’s hard to imagine because we understand that individuals who glorify racist violence and celebrate hate crimes have no place in serious academic discourse. And if such a speaker were invited, I have no doubt the Yale community would rise in collective outrage to make clear that this person is not welcome here.

So, how should we react when Shabtai, a Jewish society at Yale, invites Itamar Ben-Gvir, a proud Jewish supremacist who, until 2020, displayed a photo of Baruch Goldstein — an Israeli terrorist who massacred 29 Palestinian worshippers in the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994 — in his living room? To further underscore his adoration of Goldstein, Ben-Gvir once dressed up as him for Purim — a Jewish festival often likened to Halloween — called him his “hero” and even visited Goldstein’s grave on his first date with his wife. Just as we would categorically reject and refuse to engage with white supremacists who glorify Dylann Roof, we must reject and refuse to legitimize Itamar Ben-Gvir. 

Itamar Ben-Gvir, who currently serves as Israel’s Minister of National Security, adheres to a Jewish supremacist ideology known as Kahanism. Kahanism is named after its founder, Meir Kahane, who labeled all of Israel’s Palestinian citizens “enemies of the state,” and advocated the use of violence to bring about their immediate forced removal from Israel to ensure ethnic purity. Ben-Gvir has praised Kahane as a “saint” and was a youth leader in Kahane’s party, Kach. After Baruch Goldstein, a fellow Kach supporter, carried out the aforementioned Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, the party was designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S., the EU and Canada. Ben-Gvir, however, remained active in Kach, leading to at least eight convictions, including for incitement to racism and support for a terrorist organization, and the IDF banning him from serving.

Perhaps Shabtai’s members didn’t know that Ben-Gvir supports “price tag” attacks on Palestinian civilians, or that he supports Baruch Goldstein and Meir Kahane. Perhaps they didn’t know that Ben-Gvir participated in a grotesque celebration of the firebombing that murdered 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh and his family, an act of terrorism committed by fellow Kahanists. And perhaps they didn’t know that, in 1994, Ben-Gvir warned on live TV that the far-right “could get to [Prime Minister] Rabin” just three weeks before the Prime Minister was assassinated by a far-right extremist with ties to Ben-Gvir in retaliation for signing peace accords with the Palestinians. 

Well, now that they know these facts about Ben-Gvir, should he really be someone they’re willing to platform, legitimize and share wine with?

I’d imagine that Shabtai’s leaders, and those who were planning on wining and dining with Ben-Gvir, would argue that regardless of his views, Ben-Gvir is a senior minister in the Israeli government, and, therefore, there is value in listening to and engaging with what he has to say, regardless of how extreme it is. Better to defeat ideas in the “marketplace of ideas,” they’d argue, than to silence them. I am sympathetic to such arguments, and even attended and personally debated Simcha Rothman, a Ben-Gvir ally, when Shabtai hosted him in January of last year.

When we treat someone as an honored guest and wine and dine with them, however, we signal that their views are within the realms of that which we deem acceptable and legitimate speech. Those who glorify violent terrorists should never be treated as if their views fall within the bounds of acceptable discourse. So, just as we would never offer a platform or a dinner invitation to Vladimir Putin, a Hamas supporter or a white supremacist who venerates Dylann Roof, we should not do so for Itamar Ben-Gvir.

LIAM HAMAMA is a senior in Davenport studying Global Affairs and Economics and a Policy Intern at J Street. He can be reached at liam.hamama@yale.edu.