Ben-Zion "Bentzi" Gopstein (Hebrew: בן־ציון "בנצי" גופשטיין, born 10 September 1969) is a political activist affiliated with the far-right in Israel, a student of Meir Kahane, and founder[1] and director of Lehava ("Flame"), an Israeli Jewish anti-assimilation organization.
He was a member of the Council of Kiryat Arba, an Israeli settlement where Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben-Gvir also resides, between 2010 and 2013.
[8] Shortly after Kahane's 1990 assassination, Gopstein was arrested, and then released, in a case involving the unsolved murder of an Arab couple.
[9] In 2015, in a tape-recorded talk, Gopstein justified burning down churches based on the religious teachings against idolatry by 12th-century Jewish philosopher and scholar Maimonides.
[17] In January 2015, Channel 2 reported that Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon may be preparing to categorize Lehava as a terrorist organization.
[20]Before his Facebook account was permanently disabled, it had doctored images of Arab Israeli Knesset members who appear to be hanged by the neck.
[26] On the Haredi website Kooker, Gopstein published an article in December 2015 calling for the suppression of Christmas celebrations in Israel and the expulsion of Christians, whom he likened to vampires.
Calling the Christian Church "the deadly enemy of the Jewish people for centuries", he wrote, "Their missionaries prowl for prey in Jerusalem."
[29] In the run-up to the September 2019 Knesset election, Gopstein boycotted a hearing of the High Court of Justice on whether Otzma Yehudit should be allowed on the ballot.
[30] In late November 2019, nine years after an initial complaint had been filed by the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism regarding his behavior,[31] Gopstein was indicted for incitement to violence, racism, and support for terrorism on the basis of a series of statements he made over a five-year period from 2012 to 2017, such as praising the mass murderer Baruch Goldstein, defending the actions of youths involved in the Zion Square assault, calling Palestinians a cancer, and stating that there was no shortage of Arabs who deserved to be beaten up.
[2] Gopstein responded by declaring he would persist in campaigning against Jewish-Arab coexistence, and asserted that the indictment was tantamount to state-sponsored persecution.
[34] On April 19, 2024, Gopstein was targeted in the third round of sanctions imposed by the Biden administration, which are aimed at clamping down on settler violence in the West Bank.
The fundraising campaigns established by Mount Hebron Fund for Levi and by Shlom Asiraich for Chasdai generated the equivalent of $140,000 and $31,000, respectively.“[37] On August 3, 2024, Chasdai, together with Yakov Goelman, was indicted "... on charges of terrorism, aggravated bodily harm, and damaging property motivated by racism, among other charges..."[38] They were among some 20 extremists who attacked a car with five Israeli Arab women, "... bombarded the women’s vehicle with rocks; sprayed them with teargas; set their car on fire; screamed that they were going to kill them; caused them severe physical injuries and psychological trauma; and psychologically tortured them..." when they mistakenly entered the illegal settlement Givat Ronen.
[39] The European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on Gopstein's Lehava, citing involvement in serious human rights abuses against Palestinians.
[40] On May 3, 2024, the UK imposed sanctions on the Hilltop Youth and Gopstein's Lehava for “facilitating, inciting and promoting violence against Arab and Palestinian communities.”[41] In June 2024, Canada sanctioned Gopstein together with six other settlers and five organizations "for their violent and destabilizing actions against Palestinian civilians and their property in the West Bank.”[42] Similarly, on August 28, 2024, the USA sanctioned another West Bank settler organization and another West Bank settler: - Hashomer Yosh, "an Israeli nongovernmental organization that provides material support to U.S.-designated outpost Meitarim Farm, and U.S.-designated individuals Yinon Levi, Neriya Ben Pazi and Zvi Bar Yosef.
The sanctioned outposts are Tirzah Valley Farm, Meitarim, and Shuvi Eretz for "...facilitating, inciting, promoting or providing support for activity that amounts to a serious abuse of the right of Palestinians not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".
The sanctioned organizations include "Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva, a religious school embedded in the Yitzhar settlement known to promote violence against non-Jewish people; Hashomer Yosh, a non-governmental organization that provides volunteers for illegal outposts, including Meitarim; Torat Lechima, a registered Israeli charity...documented as providing financial support to illegal settler outposts linked with acts of violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank; and Amana which...has overseen the establishment of illegal outposts and provides funding and other economic resources for Israeli settlers involved in threatening and perpetrating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank".