By Max Blumenthal – The Grayzone
Fascist Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is set to appear on April 27 at the home of a Brooklyn businessman and Jewish power broker named Harry Adjmi, according to a private invitation.
Update: Jeremy Loffredo, a reporter for The Grayzone, was turned away from the Midwood, Brooklyn venue which hosted Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on April 25. He witnessed a heavy security presence outside, with about 100 Shomrim, or volunteer Orthodox Jewish civilian patrolmen on the scene, operating alongside NYPD officers. Loffredo said a small number of Palestine solidarity protesters were confronted by a much larger number of local Zionist supporters of Ben Gvir, who attempted to intimidate them while the civilian patrols obstructed their movements. Among the Zionists outside the venue were members of the Jewish Defense League, the terrorist outfit founded by the late Meir Kahane, who serves as the inspiration of Ben Gvir’s fascist Jewish Power (Otzmah Yehudit) Party in Israel.
The Grayzone has obtained a private invitation to a “welcoming” party for Itamar Ben-Gvir, a messianic settler who has been convicted in a Jerusalem court of abetting a terrorist organization. The party will be held at the home of Harry Adjmi, a Brooklyn-based businessman and influential local Jewish powerbroker who has donated to the campaigns of Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Republican President Donald Trump.
Adjmi confirmed to The Grayzone that he will be hosting Ben Gvir at his home in the Syrian Jewish bastion of Midwood, just off Ocean Avenue.
Hailing from the openly supremacist Jewish Power (Otzmah Yehudit) party, Ben Gvir is the most extreme figure to have ever served as an Israeli minister. A zealous supporter of torture and genocide, he has been filmed celebrating a settler terror attack in which a Palestinian baby was burned to death. Ben Gvir was also videotaped in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron leading a mob of fellow settlers in a violent assault on Palestinian merchants. The Biden administration considered banning him from entering the US in 2022.
According to the invite to the Brooklyn brunch with Ben Gvir, “RSVP will be required for security.”
Ben-Gvir’s first stop after arriving in the US on April 23 was Mar-a-Lago, the personal residence of President Donald Trump, where he said “senior Republicans… expressed support for my very clear position on how to act in Gaza and that the food and aid warehouses should be bombed.”
Throughout the Israeli minister’s speaking tour, which included a stop at Yale University’s Shabtai society, which was co-founded by Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, he advanced his plan to “starve Gaza.” 100 students and 30 faculty members reportedly attended his speech.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported several stops on Ben Gvir’s US tour in New York City and Miami. The brunch event at Harry Adjmi’s home was not listed among them.
Adjmi is a Brooklyn real estate mogul and businessman who serves as CEO of One Step Up, a wholesale import export business. His bio on the company’s website describes him as a “caring and loyal family and businessman.” He has donated to both Republican and Democratic Party politicians in New York City, including Democratic Mayor Eric Adams and former Mayor Bill DeBlasio. In Israel, Adjmi supports an array of Sephardic Jewish organizations, as well as the Israeli military. At home, he is closely connected to the ultra-Orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch movement, which hosted Ben Gvir in Brooklyn on April 24.
In January 2021, Trump pardoned Harry Adjmi’s brother, Alex, who was convicted of laundering money for a Colombian drug cartel. Harry Adjmi donated $50,000 to Trump’s 2024 campaign.
While liberal Israeli expats hounded Ben Gvir through the streets of Manhattan, denouncing him as a Nazi and a fascist, Adjmi’s hosting of the Israeli minister suggests a wellspring of support among local Jewish nationalists for his genocidal plan to starve the already besieged population of Gaza.