Israeli UFC fighter Natan Levy responds to Kanye West’s antisemitism: ‘Come see me, bro’
‘I will fight for my people in the octagon, or wherever need be, and I will not stand for antisemitism,’ Levy said.
Natan Levy proudly shows an Israeli flag before his matches. (Amy Kaplan)
(JTA) — Natan Levy, one of the few Israelis ever to compete in the mixed martial arts Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, isn’t pulling any punches in talking about Kanye West’s antisemitism.
“Kanye West, if you’ve got a problem with me or my people, come see me, bro,” Levy said during an interview Saturday following a victory at UFC Orlando.
“I think life is too short to hate, so to all these hateful people it sucks for you, I pity you,” he said, when asked for his reaction to the recent controversies surrounding West, who now goes by Ye, and NBA star Kyrie Irving.
Last week, Ye added to his growing list of antisemitic rants by praising Hitler during a three-hour appearance on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ “InfoWars” show. “Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table. Especially Hitler,” Ye said.
Levy, who was born in France and moved to Israel as a young child, has become only the third Israeli to sign on with the UFC, the world’s top mixed martial arts league. He told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency last year that he’s proud to bring an Israeli flag with him to fights.
“I am Jewish, it’s what I am, it’s what I was born,” Levy said during his post-fight interview. “I’m very proud of it and I will fight for it. I will fight for my people in the octagon, or wherever need be, and I will not stand for antisemitism. I won’t stand for any racism — not around me. Don’t bully anybody around me, or I’m going to find you.”
Levy also said he has personally felt the recent spike in online antisemitism in the wake of the news surrounding multiple antisemitic public figures, saying sarcastically that he has received “a lot of lovely DMs,” or direct messages on social media. “Trust me, I’ve noticed it,” he said with a smile.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Trump fires Doug Emhoff from Holocaust Memorial Council
-
Fast Forward Facing police investigation, Irish band Kneecap denies supporting Hamas, Hezbollah
-
Fast Forward Red paint coats Dartmouth building in pro-Palestinian protest
-
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Trump fires Doug Emhoff from Holocaust Memorial Council
-
Fast Forward Facing police investigation, Irish band Kneecap denies supporting Hamas, Hezbollah
-
Fast Forward Red paint coats Dartmouth building in pro-Palestinian protest
-
Opinion The secret cost of Israel’s wars ravaged my family. It’s only getting worse
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.