After violent clashes broke out between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters outside a Los Angeles synagogue on Sunday, President Joe Biden and other elected officials condemned anti-Semitism.
“Threatening Jewish people is dangerous, reprehensible, anti-Semitic and un-American,” Biden said in a statement, adding that he was “appalled” by the incident. “Americans have the right to peaceful protest, but blocking access to places of worship and inflicting violence on them is never acceptable.”
Video of the clash outside the Adas Torah synagogue – in which one arrest was made – has gone viral around the world, sparking outrage and condemnation of a “pogrom” in the predominantly Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood. While pro-Palestinian street protests accompanied by fiery rhetoric have frequently erupted in major cities around the world, Sunday’s protest was notable for the large number of pro-Israel counterprotesters who turned violent outside the synagogue.
“Today marks a dark stain in the history of Los Angeles,” Sam Yebri, a former local candidate and local attorney, said in a widely shared post. “Pro-Palestinian protesters boldly terrorized Jewish Angelenos with impunity and no accountability. These violent masked domestic terrorists beat up Jewish people, vandalized synagogues, schools and businesses, keyed cars and assaulted anyone who appeared to be Jewish.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the incident “abhorrent” in a statement posted to X and wrote that she had “requested additional patrols from the LAPD” in the neighborhood and other local houses of worship. Gov. Gavin Newsom and other elected officials have also condemned the incident.
“I want to be clear that Los Angeles will not be a hotbed of anti-Semitism or violence,” Bass wrote. “Those responsible will be found and held accountable.”
Adas Torah, an Orthodox synagogue, was hosting an Israeli real estate fair organized by My Home in Israel, the same group that has sparked protests at other synagogues in North America. The Palestinian Youth Movement organization had spread the synagogue’s address and called for protests against the Los Angeles event on social media.
Gidon Katz, producer of the Israel Real Estate event, said the Los Angeles Police Department had restricted access to previous “My Home in Israel” events in response to protests, but on Sunday they allowed protesters to assemble.
“They literally came right up to the entrance of the building and they were very, very loud and I have to say it was really scary,” Katz said Monday at the airport as she prepared to board a flight back to Israel.
According to Los Angeles Police Officer Tony Yim, pro-Palestinian activists gathered outside the synagogue around 10:30 a.m. Sunday and blocked the building’s entrance. Pro-Israel counterprotesters arrived on the scene soon after. Videos and witness accounts posted online showed scuffles erupting among the protesters. Footage shows pepper spray and bear spray being used multiple times.
Street confrontations have escalated between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters outside Adas Torah in Los Angeles, with threats from both sides and physical altercations already occurring. pic.twitter.com/6LyP0QfLy0
— acatwithnews (@ACatWithNews) June 23, 2024
Police, wearing riot gear and using batons, eventually declared the incident an unlawful assembly and cleared the crowd from Adastra, but the unrest continued for hours as protesters spilled into nearby streets, where shouting and pushing continued. The protesters eventually dispersed around 5 p.m., according to CBS affiliate KCAL in Los Angeles.
One protester was arrested for allegedly brandishing a banned “pole post” during the protest, and the LAPD said in a statement it was also investigating two reports of assault.
“We will always protect the First Amendment rights of those who wish to protest,” the statement said, “but violence and crime will not be tolerated.”
Katz also said he tolerates protests against his events, within limits.
“This is a free world. I’m not trying to circumvent anyone’s First Amendment, whether they’re Jewish or Palestinian. If they want to protest respectfully, they have the right to do so,” he said. “We are against violence and we are against their attempts to stop people from entering the country.”
Sunday’s incident was the latest in a series of violent clashes in Los Angeles linked to the Israel-Hamas war. Last year a pro-Israel protester was killed after an altercation during a protest. Similar clashes have also occurred at the Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance, the Holocaust Museum, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Southern California.
As outrage grows over Sunday’s incident, some details remain unclear, including how the clashes escalated, the identities of the protesters who were arrested and released and the identities of those who the LAPD declined to release.
Bass held a press conference at the Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance on Monday afternoon, saying she planned to meet with other public officials and Jewish community leaders to discuss next steps. The Jewish Federation of Los Angeles released a statement Sunday night saying its Community Safety Initiative was “monitoring the situation and working with local law enforcement to ensure the safety of our community.”
A Los Angeles Police Department spokesman said they had not heard any calls for extra police security in the wake of the incident, but some Jewish leaders said they felt unsafe. Rabbi Herzl Irrian, founder of the JEM Community Center near Beverly Hills, told KCAL that the violence “has no place here.”
“I can’t imagine a Jew going out in front of a mosque, or a Christian going out in front of a mosque, doing something like that. Nobody would approve of this,” Illian said, “but here, with the Jews and with Israel, everything is kosher and everything is OK.”