More than 200 Yale students launched an overnight demonstration at Yale University on Tuesday evening to protest a scheduled talk near Yale’s campus by extremist Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The demonstration started at 6 p.m. (22:00 GMT) with approximately 25 students. The number of participants rapidly increased, and by 9:30 p.m. (01:30 GMT), eight tents had been erected.

“We’re here, and we’re staying the night,” declared a protest organizer through a megaphone.

Ben-Gvir is making his inaugural US tour with stops in New Haven and New York.

Shmully Hecht, founder of Shabtai, a Jewish organization hosting the event, justified the invitation in remarks to the student paper, “At a personal level I believe it is specifically unapologetic events such as this one that has preserved Yale as a more moderate safe haven for Jews in the current toxic Ivy community of extremism.”

A representative for the Sumud Coalition, a pro-Palestinian student organization on campus, stated that the action was carried out by an independent group of students who oppose Ben-Gvir’s presence and criticize Yale for remaining silent on the issue.

The demonstration follows April 2024’s campus-wide protests against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, when students called for Yale to cut financial ties with arms manufacturers.

During the 2024 demonstrations, the US police arrested 48 protesters—including 44 Yale students—when dismantling the first of two protest encampments.

Israel launched the US-backed war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023 after a retaliatory operation by the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. At least 51,266 people have been killed in the brutal war so far.

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