CNN —
A pro-Palestinian protest outside a Los Angeles synagogue on Sunday devolved into chaotic street violence by pro-Israel counterprotesters and was condemned by several administration officials, including President Joe Biden, as anti-Semitic.
The Los Angeles Police Department said it responded to two protests on Sunday in the predominantly Jewish Pico Robertson neighborhood, just south of Beverly Hills. Video from the scene showed police pushing pro-Palestinian protesters away from the entrance of Temple Adas Torah, an Orthodox synagogue.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators could be heard chanting “Free Palestine from the river to the sea” and “Long live the Intifada”. They blocked traffic and video from the scene showed several altercations breaking out in the middle of the road and on the sidewalks.
The police department told CNN that officers arrested a person with a “spiked flag” who was accused of possessing prohibited items during the protest and has since been released from custody.
David Swanson/AFP/Getty Images
On Sunday, June 23, pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters clashed outside the Adas Torah Orthodox Jewish synagogue in Los Angeles.
Protests over the Israel-Gaza war have been occurring frequently across the United States since October, but Democratic Party officials harshly criticized Sunday’s protest for being violent and taking place on a Jewish site.
“I am appalled by the scenes outside Adas Torah Synagogue in Los Angeles. Intimidation of Jewish people is dangerous, reprehensible, anti-Semitic and un-American,” Biden said on X. “Americans have a right to peaceful protest, but disrupting access to places of worship and using violence is never acceptable.”
“The violence in Pico Robertson (Sunday) was abhorrent and blocking access to places of worship is unacceptable,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. “I have asked the LAPD to conduct additional patrols in the Pico Robertson neighborhood and outside places of worship across the city. I will be meeting with Police Chief Dominic Choi tomorrow to further discuss the safety of Angelenos.”
“I want to be clear that Los Angeles will not be a hotbed of anti-Semitism or violence. Those responsible will be found and held accountable,” she added.
“The violent clash that took place outside the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles is terrible,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said on X. “There is no excuse for targeting a house of worship. This type of anti-Semitic hatred has no place in California.”
“Targeting a synagogue or its members is anti-Semitic,” Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said on X. “I strongly condemn the pro-Palestinian protesters who engaged in anti-Semitic attacks by targeting Adas Torah Synagogue and its members. Anyone who commits violent acts should be prosecuted.”
Jewish and Muslim advocacy groups say the war has led to a surge in hate crimes and bias incidents: The Anti-Defamation League reported a 140% increase in anti-Semitic incidents in 2023 compared to the previous year, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations said last year saw the highest number of reports of anti-Muslim bias in 30 years.
The protest stemmed from an Israeli real estate event held at Adas Torah Synagogue on Sunday, according to social media posts from the synagogue’s security chief and organizers.
The synagogue event was organized by My Israel Home, a company that sells properties in Israel and settlements in the West Bank and advertises them on social media. CNN has reached out to My Israel Home for comment.
In response, pro-Palestinian groups announced plans to protest the event, in an Instagram post on Friday by the Palestinian Youth Movement and its Los Angeles-based chapter.
“Our land is not for sale,” the post said. “Sell your home to build an ‘Anglo Community’ in Palestine and oppose settler expansion at Sunday’s real estate event,” the post also included the synagogue’s address in Los Angeles.
“Racist settler expansionists are not welcome in LA!,” the account wrote in the caption. “This blatant land theft is happening in our backyard. The Nakba is underway and must be confronted!”
David Swanson/AFP/Getty Images
Los Angeles Police Department officers lined up in front of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the Adas Torah Orthodox Jewish synagogue in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Dan Braum, the temple’s volunteer security chief, said the protesters blocked the synagogue’s entrance until police arrived and dispersed them.
It was unclear how the unrest escalated, but videos shared on social media showed both groups taunting, shoving and grabbing each other outside the synagogue. The group of protesters eventually spilled into a nearby street, where more fighting broke out, the video showed.
One video shows two men fighting on the ground and being kicked by the other, after which one of the men holding the Israeli flag can be seen with blood on his face and mouth.
Additional footage showed eggs being hurled at pro-Palestinian activists and a man wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian headscarf, being chased and punched to the ground by a man wearing a Jewish yarmulke, or kippa.
During many of the altercations, bystanders tried to pull people apart.
Los Angeles Police began monitoring the situation around 10:30 a.m., Officer Tony Yim told CNN. The crowd was ordered to disperse at some point, Yim said, but did not give an exact time. A few hours later, the situation appeared to have “calmed down quite a bit,” but police were closely monitoring the scene, he added.
Blaum said the pro-Palestinian protesters were covering their faces, saying “vile and disgusting things” and were “on combat alert”.
“They come looking to escalate,” he said. “I’m not saying that’s the case for all of them, it would be unfair to say that, but some of them come looking for violence and want the camera to record them when they are assaulted.”
“We’re not going to let them see our faces,” a man wearing a red kefir cap over his face told CNN affiliate KCAL as counter-protesters begged him to show his face.
“It’s not meant to be intimidating, but it’s certainly a nuisance,” the kefir-wearing man said.
“This is intimidating,” he added, pointing at the counter-protesters. “We didn’t get in anybody’s faces.”
But local resident Josh Gaultier disagrees. “They came to our house. They attacked us. They sprayed my friend with bear spray while he was standing here,” Gaultier told KCAL. Gaultier said he knows someone who’d been attacked. “It’s just horrible.”
Rabbi Herzl Irrian of the JEM Community Center near Beverly Hills told KCAL that violence “has no place here” and lamented the double standard.
“I can’t imagine a Jew going out in front of a mosque or a Christian going out in front of a mosque and doing something like that,” he said. “Nobody would approve of this, but here, with the Jews and with Israel, everything is kosher and everything is OK.”
The Los Angeles Jewish Federation said in a statement to CNN that it is committed to keeping the community safe.
“Our Community Security Initiative (CSI) is monitoring the situation and working with local law enforcement to ensure the safety of our community. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide further updates as necessary,” the statement read.
CNN’s Elizabeth Wolf, Amanda Jackson, Sarah Moon, Camila Bernal, Andy Rose, DJ Judd and Paradise Afshar contributed to this report.