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Newton, Massachusetts – A Zionist rally on Thursday turned violent after a pro-Palestine counter-protestor was shot in the stomach. Authorities have charged 47-year-old Scott Hayes who is an Iraq War veteran and a ‘proud Zionist’—despite not being Jewish—in connection with the crime.
Video obtained by The Daily Wire—founded by conservative Jewish political commentator Ben Shapiro—shows the incident that unfolded at a small demonstration of Zionist protestors. The footage captures a man across the street, wearing a Palestinian pin, shouting at the group and accusing them of “‘defending genocide.”
The video then skips ahead, showing the man charging at the group. However, the selective editing leaves it unclear what triggered him to cross the street and confront them. Hayes was then tackled to the ground, sparking a scuffle that allegedly ended with him discharging a pistol. During the altercation, the man was shot in the stomach.
The victim, whose identity has not been released, was rushed to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries. Recent reports indicate that he is now in stable condition and is expected to survive.
Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan announced the charges against Hayes, which include assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and violation of a constitutional right causing injury. She also said that Hayes had full legal possession of the gun involved in the altercation.
Hayes appeared in court on Friday to face the charges, with a not-guilty plea entered on his behalf. He was granted $5,000 bail. The judge imposed a curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., ordered Hayes to stay away from the victim and the city of Newton—except for its highways—and prohibited him from possessing any weapons. Hayes is scheduled to return to court on November 4.
Hayes who was one of the protest organizers, is notorious for his political activism in the local area. In 2021, Hayes mounted a write-in campaign for his local school committee in nearby Framingham. Hayes focused his campaign on lifting the district’s mask mandate.
In a post on his now-deleted Facebook campaign page, he stated that he is “not for mask mandates or vaccination mandates.” In an interview with a local paper, he would say “Covid had taken over education and we as a city failed our children miserably with remote learning and no one was following the actual science which was clear that schools could be open and be done safely.”
It appears that any social media activity Hayes may have had before December 2023 has been erased. Since then, his online presence, including a new X/Twitter account created in December 2023, has been focused on supporting Israel in its ongoing war in Gaza—which has been described as a genocide. Over 40,000 Palestinians, predominantly women and children, have been killed since the war began last year.
In his first three posts on X/Twitter, Hayes called for the eradication of Hamas and claimed that there would only be peace if Hamas laid down their weapons. Since then, Hayes has mostly posted and reposted blood-curdling Israeli propaganda. Including the doxes of pro-Palestine activists by accounts such as StopAntisemitism.
However, in one rare post, Hayes did take the time to express support for former President Donald Trump in the wake of the assassination attempt on him in July. Trump has made headlines in recent weeks for claiming that “Israel will no longer exist” if he does not win the upcoming presidential election.
Hayes has also frequently shared pictures and videos from various Zionist protests he’s attended. In one post, he juxtaposed a photo of himself with one of pro-Palestine counter-protesters holding a sign that read, “Zionism is weird.” His online response was to proclaim, “I am a proud Zionist,” adding, “What’s weird is beta males.”
In another post, Hayes shared an image of what appears to be a SIG Sauer P365 pistol, adorned with a Star of David and Hebrew lettering. The Hebrew inscription, which Google Translate renders as “Never Again,” is a phrase commonly associated with Jewish communities and the lessons supposedly taught about the alleged Holocaust. Hayes captioned the photo with the provocative statement, “Hey Jew haters. Bring it.”
Some of Hayes’s videos have even gone viral. In one video from August, with hundreds of thousands of views, Hayes can be seen antagonizing a counter-protester asking him to not film her. In the post, he accuses her of “assaulting” him. He would also call on X/Twitter to “Make her famous.”
While Hayes’s online posting history appears to show a potentially violent political extremist, his fellow protestors along with Jewish organizations are pushing the narrative that he acted in self-defense.
Aidin, an Iranian supporter of Israel and leader of the group ‘From Boston to Iran,’ was present at the incident. He claimed, “I saw him raise his hand towards the veteran and tried to move closer until I heard the shot fired.”
He added, “We’ve attended many events like this before, and nothing like this has ever happened. I was stunned when the man ran across the street and had no idea why he would do that.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) took to X/Twitter to express deep concern over the immediate filing of charges against Hayes. Accusing the man shot of “violently tackling” Hayes. The ADL would go on to pressure the Newton Police and the Middlesex District Attorney to “conduct a thorough investigation of the entire incident.”
A Gofundme set up to pay for Hayes’s legal defense has already raised over $180,000. It claims that the shooting was done in self-defense and that “even though Scott is not Jewish he has been defending the Jewish people…Please help Scott, his family and his community in their time of need.”
Since Hama’s October 7th raid on Israel last year and Israel’s subsequent war in the Gaza Strip, Jewish groups have pivoted towards suppressing pro-Palestine activism across the United States.
Earlier in the year, a leaked group chat revealed that a group of Jewish billionaires pressured NYC Mayor Eric Adams into crushing the pro-Palestine encampment at Columbia University.
Last week a ‘woke’ social studies teacher was removed from her teaching role after becoming a target by local Jewish groups for her pro-Palestine activism.
