Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators shouted at former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in New York, accusing him of being a "war criminal" who "should be arrested."
Gallant, against whom, along with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, international arrest warrants have been issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, was filmed leaving a business in the city when several passersby began shouting at him as he made his way to his car.
live
Gallant screamed at by pro-Palestinians
"You have the blood of 61,000 Palestinians on your hands," they shouted. "Why should he be able to walk the streets of New York?" After a few minutes, Gallant entered his car accompanied by his security guards. Footage of the incident was published on the social media account of a local left-wing organization on the platform X (formerly Twitter).
Alongside the footage, the organization wrote: "War criminal Yoav Gallant confronted on the streets of New York by pro-Palestinians! The former Israeli Defense Minister, who has an arrest warrant for his war crimes against humanity issued by the ICC, will not live peacefully for a single day! People around the world stand with Palestine and against Israel's violent apartheid regime. We will continue to fight every day until the full liberation of the Palestinian people. There will be no rest for the wicked."
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
Earlier, more than 500 pro-Palestinian protesters, many wrapped in keffiyehs, gathered in Chicago outside the "Anshe Emet" synagogue to protest Gallant's participation in an event organized by Friends of the IDF (FIDF). While Gallant was inside the synagogue, one of the protest organizers said, "Palestinians and our Jewish allies who oppose the war will continue to protest, disrupt, and demand the arrest of Gallant and anyone else who supports genocide, across the United States."
Other protesters chanted "From the river to the sea," while some submitted a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice's Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, demanding a criminal investigation be opened against the former Defense Minister.
1 View gallery
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi with former defense minister Yoav Gallant
(Photo: Defense Ministry)
In his first interview since becoming Defense Minister, a position from which he was dismissed about three months ago, Gallant told Nadav Eyal that he is not afraid of the arrest warrants issued against him. "I am proud to be accused of defending the State of Israel. When leaders and others from around the world came to me, I told them, ‘2023 is not 1943. Jews now have the ability to defend themselves independently, and I am responsible for that, and I will do it. That’s what I did, and I am proud of what I did,’" he emphasized.
He acknowledged that mistakes may have been made during the war that led to "heavy costs," but he clarified: "I think our mistakes are smaller than those of other armies. The results are always harsh, and I regret that. I also did not want to harm any Palestinian civilian. And I am not the only one. The Chief of Staff and others as well – we worked tirelessly to provide humanitarian aid wherever possible."