Some pro-Israeli groups are calling for a travel and business boycott of Newton and Middlesex County after a scuffle at a pro-Israeli demonstration in the Boston suburb last week led to a man being shot.
Betar USA, Shields of David and HERUT Canada are all calling for the boycott until charges against Scott Hayes are dropped. The 47-year-old has been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and civil rights violation with injury in Thursday's shooting.
Hayes was among roughly a dozen pro-Israel demonstrators gathered at the corner of Harvard and Washington streets when he and Caleb Gannon, 31, began arguing, according to prosecutors. Gannon allegedly ran across the street and tackled Hayes, who allegedly shot Gannon in the stomach during the scuffle.
A not guilty plea was entered on Hayes' behalf in court the following day; his attorneys said argued he acted in self-defense.
Gannon, who was hospitalized but is expected to survive, is also facing an assault and battery charge, though an official at Newton District Court said a summons for him to face the charge had not been issued as of Monday. His parents did not want to speak on Monday.
The pro-Israeli groups are maintaining Hayes' self-defense argument, leading to their boycott.
"If you're conducting business with a Newton address you will not have success, you are boycotted," said Alexander Minn, the executive director of Betar USA, a Zionist youth movement.
More on the shooting in Newton
Some people in Newton Monday supported the boycott. Dahlia Regan, who often shops and does business in Newton and said she has Jewish friends she supports, called it "really meaningful and the easy way to get your point across."
Newton resident Boris Yablomovsky, who is Jewish and believes Hayes to be a hero, said a boycott is too much.
"If we're talking about boycotting all business," he said, "we're punishing everybody. I mean, who deserves or doesn't deserve it, I would be more careful about this stuff."
The City of Newton released a statement Monday saying its small businesses "are not an appropriate target for those concerned with the charges filed in connection with this incident, nor do they deserve to be harmed." It also noted that locals feel unsafe too often, and that Thursday's "disturbing violence" is among the hateful activity being seen too much lately.
Some people in Newton describe the environment around Jewish and pro-Palestinian communities nearly a year into the Israel-Hamas War as tense and sensitive.
