VIDEO: “Pro-Palestinian” Gang Seeks Out And Attacks Jews In Los Angeles
A trend spreading in many cities in the U.S. and Europe‘
By Samantha Mandeles | Legal Insurrection | May 19, 2021 at 03:31 p.m.
As the sacred Jewish holiday of Shavuot came to a close Tuesday night, shocking footage surfaced on social media of what appears to be an anti-Israel gang’s vicious attack on Jews having dinner outdoors in Los Angeles.
Israel’s fight against Hamas has again reached American shores. While cities all over Europe continue to report alarming spikes in physical attacks against Jews —citizen broadcasts via the Twitterverse show the same sort of assaults happening here.
Authorities are investigating whether an attack on diners that occurred outside a Beverly Grove restaurant late Tuesday night was a Jewish hate crime.
The brawl occurred a little before 10 p.m. outside Sushi Fumi in the 300 block of North La Cienega Boulevard.
Witnesses said a mob of pro-Palestinians attacked a group of Jewish men who were dining at the restaurant. Cell phone video showed a group of men get out of the car and start to attack them while yelling racial slurs.
One of the diners, who is not Jewish, told CBSLA a caravan waving pro-Palestinian flags approached and then began throwing bottles at him and the group he was dining with. The man said he is a photographer and the group was meeting at the restaurant to plan a wedding.
The man said he was physically attacked when he tried to defend the group. He said the men used anti-Jewish profanity. He said he was pepper sprayed during the attack and had to go to the hospital.
The Jewish victims of the attack are reportedly members of the robust Persian-Jewish community that calls Los Angeles home; witnesses say the attackers targeted them as they paraded through the heavily Jewish area (on foot and in cars), moving from group to group asking who was Jewish. Some clips show the caravan of anti-Israel protesters driving through the neighborhood screaming into megaphones at Jewish passersby.
Moments ago: A group of "pro-Palestine" attacked a table of Persian Jews at Sushi Fumi in Los Angeles, just outside of #weho city. #westhollywood / #LA #Antisemitism masked as #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/jjdWNqESLO
— Dillon Hosier (@DillonHosier) May 19, 2021
Antisemitic abuse in West Hollywood pic.twitter.com/QX6vqBHwuA
— The Mossad: The Social Media Account (@TheMossadIL) May 19, 2021
The assault itself was captured from multiple angles.
And more video. pic.twitter.com/kozhq2uKVU
— Dillon Hosier (@DillonHosier) May 19, 2021
As police arrived on the scene, one witness described the entire sequence for his live streamed audience:
We’re here outside Sushi Fumi in West Hollywood. A group of Palestinians—about 30 of them—jumped out of a car and asked who was Jewish. Two guys said they were, and they proceeded to beat them up. A couple people stepped in, even a Christian Arab jumped out to help the guy in the grey shirt right here. They’re apparently going around the city, and asking who’s Jewish, and beating them up. [Sighs heavily]
This is America, guys. Things are not looking good.
#Coincidence? 👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/UPUGdv63Wf
— Dillon Hosier (@DillonHosier) May 19, 2021
Though the LAPD stated that it’s investigating the incident as a “possible” anti-Jewish hate-crime, the motive for the attack seems abundantly clear. Some footage of the assault shows attackers wearing keffiyehs wrapped around their heads in the style favored by mujahideen (jihadis), while other clips captured members of the caravan waving huge Palestinian flags. And it doesn’t seem to be a coincidence that there had been a large anti-Israel protest in the area that same day.
#Coincidence? 👇👇👇 pic.twitter.com/UPUGdv63Wf
— Dillon Hosier (@DillonHosier) May 19, 2021
Elsewhere, livestreams from some of the protesters’ own social media admitted the groups targeted Zionists. One of them posted video (watermarked with his Instagram account name) of their own chase, in a car, of a lone clearly Jewish pedestrian; the video brags that “[they] went after” a Zionist they claimed had “flipped [them] off for supporting Palestine”. (Note: A screenshot from the footage serves as the featured image for this post.) The caption on the video (complete with a Palestine flag emoji, a middle finger emoji, and laughing emojis) reads,
YALL SOME BIG ASS PUSSYS [sic] BITCHES
YOU CAN RUN BUT CAN’T HIDE
Last night, as Shavuot was ending in LA #FreePalestine protestors harassed & hunted a Jewish man at La Cienega and Pico, chasing him into the @BankofAmerica parking lot.
— Dillon Hosier (@DillonHosier) May 19, 2021
Clip 1 is taken from perpetrators' social media, 2 is from security cam. This is #antisemitism today. pic.twitter.com/k44YEPQEPh
American Jewish groups, such as the Israeli American Council, have issued strong condemnations of the attack.
But, while such statements are crucial tools to raise awareness and show the Jewish community’s continued strength, they won’t help protect Jews at the moment of other attacks. It’s time that Jews proactively the tools and knowledge necessary to physically defend ourselves from violent Jew-hate—even in America.
Samantha Mandeles is Senior Researcher and Outreach Director at the Legal Insurrection Foundation. You can contact her on Twitter at @SRMandeles.
