Ben Gvir speaks at Mar-a-Lago, visits Florida prison, gun store, Israeli supermarket
Far-right national security minister, on first US trip in office, heading to northeast for meetings near Yale and in New York City
Luke Tress is The Times of Israel's New York correspondent.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir toured south Florida at the start of his weeklong visit to the US, his office said on Tuesday, including an event at US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
At Mar-a-Lago, Ben Gvir attended a dinner in his honor. Trump was not in attendance, but a Ben Gvir spokesperson said the minister met with “dozens of senior businessmen from Miami.”
The statement added that Ben Gvir met with GOP House Majority Whip Tom Emmer. Speaking with Emmer, Ben Gvir stated that, “We need to bomb Hamas’s food storage facilities.”
Footage from the dinner published online shows Ben Gvir expressing his love for the American people and boasting about changes he instituted to conditions for security prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Ben Gvir also visited the Miami police department on Tuesday, where he observed the city’s 911 dispatch system, acoustic technology that detects gunfire, and training facilities for the city’s SWAT team and other officers. As national security minister, Ben Gvir oversees police and prison services.
Ben Gvir gave a speech to a Jewish school in Fort Lauderdale and met with Jewish expats in the area.
On Monday, Ben Gvir visited Bal Harbour, near Miami, where he met with area residents and chatted with a police officer on a bicycle, his office said, recounting the previous day’s schedule.
The far-right politician visited Everglades Correctional Institute, a prison, for a two-hour tour where he met Jewish inmates and observed rehabilitation programs, including an initiative that has inmates train dogs and a ward where prisoners learn art skills.
???????????????? — BELAAZ VID: Israeli national security minister @itamarbengvir speaking now at the Fundraiser event taking place at Trump’s in Mar-a-Lago estate.
“I love the American people very much. We have a joint war against the jihad, for many years I’m fighting against them. Baruch… pic.twitter.com/8t5lJ7CeNF
— Belaaz News (@TheBelaaz) April 23, 2025
Ben Gvir also visited an Israeli supermarket in Hollywood, Florida, and stopped at an “Israeli-Russian-owned” firearms store, which his office said pertained to his role overseeing firearm licensing in Israel.
Ben Gvir met with members of the Boca Raton Jewish community and the Aleph Institute, a group that supports Jewish inmates in US prisons.
The visit to Florida is meant to build ties between Israel and Diaspora Jews and learn about the US justice system, his office said.
With Israel's Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir in a Jewish-owned gun store in the Miami area.
Israel has what to learn from the USA's 2nd Amendment thinking. pic.twitter.com/j1UIImKWDe— Yishai Fleisher يشاي ישי פליישר ???? (@YishaiFleisher) April 21, 2025
After his visit to Florida, Ben Gvir will travel northeast, including a stop near Yale University in Connecticut on Wednesday. Ben Gvir will meet with Yale students and faculty at an off-campus event hosted by Shabtai, a local Jewish group for Yale affiliates that is independent from the university.
On Thursday, Shabtai will host Ben Gvir at another event in New York City.
Ben Gvir has not announced any meetings with government officials in New York. New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s office said there were no plans to meet with Ben Gvir and the NYPD did not respond to a request for information.
Israel’s mission to the United Nations, also based in New York, said it was not aware of any meetings with Ben Gvir.
The US tour is Ben Gvir’s first as an official representative of the Israeli government.
Leftist Israelis have announced plans to protest against Ben Gvir while he is in the US.
The expat protest group UnXeptable shared videos showing an activist shouting at Ben Gvir at a Florida airport and said it will demonstrate against him in New York.
“Itamar Ben Gvir is not welcome in our community,” the group said in a petition against Ben Gvir’s visit. “He does not represent us as Jews or as Israelis.”
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