Anti-Israel protesters beat, bear mace Jews, journalists at LA synagogue

An anti-Israel protest at a Los Angeles synagogue on Sunday devolved into brawls, the spraying of counter-protesters and journalists with bear mace, and vandalism of Jewish institutions, according to eyewitnesses and pro-Palestinian groups.

The demonstrations at Adas Torah synagogue in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood were organized by Palestinian Youth Movement LA and Code Pink LA against an Israeli real estate event.

After hours of silence on the riot at the synagogue, LA Mayor Karen Bass promised to provide additional police patrols to the heavily Jewish neighborhood and would meet with interim Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi to further discuss public safety.

Violence at the scene of the protest
Journalist Cam Higby was hit by bear mace in the eyes, he said on X. He thanked local rabbis, off duty Emergency medical technicians, and community members who escorted him, aided him, and have him water despite not knowing who he was or what his beliefs were.

“People who aren’t antisemitic don’t show up to a synagogue in a Jewish neighborhood with bear spray and other weapons to fight people,” said Higby. “Reviewing footage of Jews being pushed down and beaten bloody in the street just outside of a synagogue in a Jewish neighborhood — all I can think of is when I learned about the night of broken glass.”

Activist and politician Sam Yerbi said that violent anti-Israel activists dispersed into Jewish neighborhoods “hunting Jews and causing more destruction and vandalism.” Greenfield had also said that anti-Israel activists had been roaming Pico-Robertson threatening people. Yerbi published a video on Instagram of a man in a Keffiyeh threatening residents with two bludgeons he retrieved from his car. In another video he shared, community members intervened in anti-Israel vandalism of a kosher restaurant.

Greenfield, Yerbi, and political consultant Noah Pollak, who had also been present, harshly criticized the LAPD and Bass for their failure to prepare for and address the riot.

Greenfield said that the LAPD had allowed anti-Israel activists to occupy both sides of the synagogue, providing only a small access lane for community members, and when police in riot gear arrived they did not separate the two sides for an hour. Pollak said on social media that he and his family were denied access to the synagogue, as the LAPD had formed a cordon to “keep Jews out and Hamas supporters in.”

“The attack on the ‘Adas Torah’ synagogue in Los Angeles and the targeting of Jews there, as well as the attacks on synagogues in Russia, the shocking rape of a Jewish girl in France last week, and the daily threats to Jews worldwide, all lead to one grim conclusion: Jewish blood is cheap,” IML stated, adding that attacks such as these “are all attempts to intimidate and push Jews out of the public sphere – a phenomenon we know all too well from history. We call on the authorities in countries across the world to come to their senses quickly because Jewish blood is being shed with impunity.”

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Article URL : https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-807411