NEW YORK — New York State Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday announced a settlement with the far-right Jewish group Betar, stating that Betar will halt its activities in the state.

A statement from James said Betar had “repeatedly targeted individuals based on religion and national origin,” including Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians and Jews.

“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.

Betar said it “denies all allegations of wrongdoing.”

“Betar is mainstream Zionism, an organization without which the State of Israel would not exist,” a spokesperson told The Times of Israel. “We urge Zionists to come home to Israel.”

James’s statement said the settlement requires Betar to halt encouraging violence, threats and harassment. The settlement subjected the group to a suspended $50,000 fine that it will need to pay if it does not comply with the agreement. Betar will need to file annual compliance reports for three years attesting that it has not violated the agreement.

Betar was registered as a nonprofit in New York, but is seeking to dissolve its nonprofit status and told James’s office that it is “winding down” operations in New York, although this was not required by the settlement.

The group solicited donations in New York, but did not register as a charity with James’s office, the report said.

An investigation by James’s office that started in March found that Betar had encouraged violence on social media, saying, “We are at war.........

© The Times of Israel