The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), in partnership with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), sent a letter to New York state attorney general Letitia James on Thursday, urging her to open a criminal investigation into Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir.
Ben Gvir, notorious for his openly violent rhetoric against Palestinians and Muslims, is expected to be in Manhattan next week for the Chiefs of Police Summit from 7-8 July.
The groups are also urging James to meet with what they say are local victims of Ben Gvir, including one Palestinian American subjected to starvation and torture in Israeli prison, as well as 10 participants in the 2025 and 2026 Global Sumud Flotillas who were subjected to abuse directly by Ben Gvir.
“The ball is in her court; she needs to meet with these people,” Jake Romm, the US representative for HRF, told Middle East Eye on Thursday. “They are New Yorkers. They deserve the protection of the law, and she has an obligation to bring justice.”
HRF called on James to open an “Atrocity Crimes Accountability Task Force” in the criminal justice division, specifically for victims of Israeli officials and the state’s policies.
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James’ office operates independently of political leadership, but she is a strong ally of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s policies.
That dynamic could mean a more hospitable environment for HRF’s request.
“In New York, I do think there’s more of a political will,” Romm said.
“We saw with the primaries these candidates’ stances on Palestine played a major role in this election. It also played a major role in the mayoral election. And I mean truthfully, the majority of the country is against Israel’s actions in Palestine and Lebanon,” he added.
‘Direct incitement to genocide’
Ben Gvir himself was sanctioned by the Biden administration for his encouragement of deadly settler violence in the occupied West Bank. Among the Trump administration’s first moves last year was the undoing of the punitive measures against him.
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In its urging of an investigation, HRF’s letter further cites Ben Gvir’s distribution of gun permits and weapons to Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank “in furtherance of Israel’s policies of apartheid and violent dispossession”, as well as his “direct incitement to genocide” in Gaza, where more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that he has committed at least nine different crimes under the New York Penal Code,” HRF said in its press release.
“Israeli officials like Ben Gvir enjoy near complete impunity. When [US President Donald] Trump is complicit and works to foster that impunity, it is imperative that New York State officials act to challenge it,” Brad Parker, CCR’s associate director of policy, noted in that press release.
CCR is a progressive legal advocacy non-profit based in New York City, and has taken on the cases of several of the pro-Palestine students who have been targeted by the Trump administration.
HRF is a two-year-old organisation that has brought cases against state officials, senior commanders, as well as lower-ranking soldiers accused of being complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
