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Betar US
American sector of the Betar movement From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Betar US (Hebrew: בית"ר כינה, romanized: Beitar Kina) also known as Betar USA (Hebrew: בית"ר אַרצוֹת הַבְּרִית, romanized: Beitar Eretzot Habrit) is a radical pro-Israel group in the United States. A sector of the paramilitary Revisionist Zionist Betar Movement,[5] the group was revived in the U.S. in June 2023 and supported Israel during the Gaza war. It was led by Ross Glick.[6] Betar US has been blacklisted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) for its embrace of "Islamophobia [and] harras[ing] Muslims."[7][8][9] According to the ADL, the group which self-describes itself as "vandals", has faced controversy over its support for Zionist terrorism and Kahanism, a movement that calls for the religious segregation of non-Jews.[9][10]
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Betar was established in 1923 by Ze'ev Jabotinsky and the United States sector was established in 1929.[11] It was described as a "Jewish Fascist" organization and far-right, and had supposed ties to fascist Italy during the time of its rise and establishment.[12] This was due to some democratic countries taking certain inspiration from the ideologies of fascist Italy and Benito Mussolini.[13]
By 1951, Moshe Arens became the leader of the Betar US after graduating as a Betar student.[14] He was a member of Betar since he was a teenager.[15]
In 1975, members of Betar US alongside its leader Barry Liben, occupied the United Nations building in response to how the Soviet Union was treating Jewish citizens who were refusing to let its Jewish citizens to make Aliyah.[16]
From 1994[17] to 1996, Ronn Torossian led Betar US after being a member of the organization for 10 years.[18]
On January 2, 2020, the past leader of Betar US, Barry Liben, died in New York City.[19]
According to Haaretz, it is tied to Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party.[7]
Gaza war (2023–present)
Betar US was revived in June 2023.[9] After the 7 October Hamas-led attacks on Israel, Betar US gained prominence for its approach against pro-Palestinianism and antisemitism online and in real life.[20] It encourages masked “aggressive in-person protests” and vandalism (self-describing itself as vandals), and has protested against mosques and vandalized Palestinian flags.[9]
After the 2024 presidential elections in the United States, its newly elected president, Donald Trump, signed an executive order to deport college students who were on green cards and visas who showed support for Hamas and other organizations on the United States Department of State list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. This led Betar US to create "Operation Wrath of Zion" which is a doxing campaign to find the personal details of college students who attended pro-Palestine protests and showed what they described as antisemitic and pro-Hamas rhetoric.[21] They called for Jews in the United States and Israelis to report all "pro-Hamas" students to either Betar or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) so they can get deported.[22] In late January 2025, Betar US submitted a list of students who showed pro-Palestine sentiments to Donald Trump after identifying them in order to get them arrested or deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).[23]
During counter protests at the New York University, Betar US vandalized the university’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World area with Zionist and anti-Arab slogans.[24] In October 2024, the New York University spokesperson condemned Betar for social media posts calling for violent acts.[25]
The group has supported the neo-fascist Proud Boys,[clarification needed] and indicated a desire to work with the extremist group.[9]
In 2025, Betar US started what was dubbed the "Pager Campaign" following Israel’s 2024 Lebanon electronic device attacks, where members put pagers in the pockets of or threatened to give pagers to people they perceived as anti-Israel – targeting prominent personalities like United Nations secretary-general António Guterres, Jewish writer Peter Beinart,[26] and Jewish political scientist Norman Finkelstein. Beinart characterized it as a death threat.[27][28]
Betar made a threat of a pager attack against Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, when she was going to visit London. In a social media post the group wrote: "Join us to give Francesca a [pager emoji] in London on Tuesday." Nerdeen Kiswani, a Palestinian-American activist, has also been targeted by Betar. The group stated in an X post: "You hate America, you hate Jews, and we are here and won’t be silent. $1,800 to anyone who hands that jihadi a beeper".[29]
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