WASHINGTON

New York state authorities announced a settlement Tuesday with the pro-Israel group, Betar US, after an investigation found the group engaged in violence, harassment and intimidation against pro-Palestine demonstrators and others in the state.

New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office said in a statement that an investigation by her office “uncovered evidence of Betar’s widespread persecution of Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, and Jewish New Yorkers,” driven by hostility toward several protected groups, in violation of state civil rights laws.

“New York will not tolerate organizations that use fear, violence, and intimidation to silence free expression or target people because of who they are,” James said in a statement.

Under the agreement with New York authorities, Betar “must immediately cease instigating or encouraging violence against individuals, threatening protesters, and harassing individuals exercising their civil rights,” said the office.

The group also faces a $50,000 suspended penalty that “will be enforced if Betar violates the agreement.”

The probe was launched in March after the office received multiple complaints that Betar and its members engaged in “violent and threatening conduct,” particularly targeting people at protests related to Israel and Palestine.

Betar US, which describes itself as part of a right-wing Zionist youth movement founded in 1923 and based in Israel, gained attention last year after posting lists of campus protesters opposing Israel’s genocidal war in the Gaza Strip and urging the Trump administration to deport those on its “Students Deport List.”

The group shared now-deleted posts mocking civilian deaths in Gaza, including a response to Israel's killing of hundreds of Palestinian babies that said, “Not enough. We demand blood in Gaza!”

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani welcomed the agreement, writing on US social media platform X, “For years, Betar has sowed a campaign of hatred across New York, trafficking in Islamophobic extremism and harassing those with whom they disagreed.”

The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), a US-based prominent Muslim civil rights group, said the shutdown of Betar’s campaign of harassment in New York marked a “historic and positive step toward protecting New Yorkers who have faced intimidation simply for advocating for Palestinian human rights” and urged authorities to hold the organization accountable for any criminal harassment.

Betar US wrote on X that it “voluntarily left NY months ago” and was advising “Zionists to evacuate NY,” while maintaining it is a US nonprofit based in Israel.