LAPD arrests man accused of attacking Jews outside restaurant amid rise in anti-Semitism nationwide
The Los Angeles Police Department announced Saturday that it has arrested a suspect who was seen attacking Jews dining outside a sushi restaurant in Beverly Hills earlier this week.
Police said the unidentified individual was arrested after 10 p.m. Friday “on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.”
City News Service reports, “Police Saturday said a man was taken into custody, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshal Service, as one of the primary suspects who allegedly assaulted several Jewish men Tuesday outside a restaurant in the Beverly Grove area of Los Angeles.”
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A video posted on Twitter by Adam Milstein Wednesday showed multiple pro-Palestinian men attacking the Jewish men sitting outside the restaurant.
LAPD requested the suspect's bail be increased “due to the crime being motivated by hatred.”
Shocking videos from Los Angeles where Palestinians started attacking Jews
— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) May 19, 2021
Witnesses said 10 Palestinian cars rolled up and started hitting them with knives at a Sushi restaurant in Beverly Hills#israelunderfirepic.twitter.com/i1Au9sOEIh
Another video from LA posted to Twitter showed at least one Jewish individual being beaten and other Jews being intimidated by people in cars displaying large Palestinian flags, the Anti-Defamation League reported.
The ADL, a United States-based anti-discrimination organization, has reported a rise in anti-Semitic events in the U.S. and worldwide since the latest fighting started between Israel and Hamas earlier this month. The ADL said a similar surge in anti-Semitic violence happened in 2014 during the last Israel-Hamas conflict.
On Friday, the Israeli Consulate in New York said the attacks and protests have been more violent than previously seen, according to The Times of Israel.
“The demonstrations are larger, more toxic, and unfortunately also more violent. There is a direct connection between Hamas’ stated agenda which is sworn to Israel’s destruction and the slogans of the demonstrators that undermine the legitimacy of Israel as the Jewish nation-state,” the consulate said in a statement.
Anti-Semitic attacks also erupted in New York City this week, even after a ceasefire agreement was reached between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
Footage from separate incidents in New York City Thursday showed attacks on Jews during a pro-Israel demonstration that was met with pro-Palestinian counter-protesters in midtown Manhattan where one person suffered burns after two commercial fireworks were thrown from a car, Fox News reported.
Another video posted on social media showed an older Jewish man wearing a Yarmulke being attacked by pro-Palestinian protesters in Times Square.
“Stop telling me this is about Israel and Gaza," a New Yorker confronted by a pro-Palestinian mob on his way to synagogue said, according to Fox News. "My people are being targeted across the United States in broad daylight. This is textbook anti-Semitism, and we will continue to live in danger until the public starts to recognize it for what it is."
Outside of violence in New York City and Los Angeles, protestors across the country are proclaiming anti-Jewish messages at rallies.
A protestor in Seattle, Washington, last week held up a sign that said “Zionism = Nazism.” A crowd rallying in Washington, D.C., chanted “Zionists are terrorists,” and a protestor in Michigan held a sign at a rally that read, “Zionists r modern-day Nazis,” according to ADL.
In the Miami, Florida area, Eric Orgen told CBS 12 that he, his wife and teenage daughter were walking out of synagogue recently when a group of men driving by began shouting and cursing at them.
"They just started screaming some derogatory things toward Jewish people out the window," Orgen told CBS12. He said the driver threw trash at his family and shouted: "Free Palestine, die Jew, F you Jew, I’m gonna rape your wife.”
"My first thought was just making sure my wife and daughter were behind me so I could take the brunt of anything that was going to happen," Orgen said.
A person driving in a vehicle next to those shouting verbal threats showed the driver that he was armed with a gun in an effort to protect the Jewish family. After seeing the weapon, the man drove off. Orgen described the man who intervened as their “guardian angel.”
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, the first Jewish mayor of Miami-Dade County, released a statement Wednesday condemning the rise in anti-Semitic attacks in the area and said the attacks “cut especially close to home.”
“Acts of hate and violence against any community are not tolerated in Miami-Dade County,” Cava said in a statement. “Hate and intolerance contradict the foundations of our community – a place where so many generations of people found a safe home after fleeing their own countries to build a new life with their families.”
In a statement released Thursday, ADL urged leaders to speak out against anti-Semitism before it exacerbates further.
“As the violence between Israel and Hamas continues to escalate, we are witnessing a dangerous and drastic surge in anti-Jewish hate,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in the statement. “We are tracking acts of harassment, vandalism and violence as well as a torrent of online abuse. It’s happening around the world — from London to Los Angeles, from France to Florida, in big cities like NYC and in small towns, and across every social media platform.
“To those who choose to indulge in age-old antisemitic tropes, exaggerated claims, and inflammatory rhetoric, it has consequences: attacks in real life on real people targeted for no other reason than they are Jewish,” Greenblatt said. “This is antisemitism, plain and simple. And it’s indisputably inexcusable in any context.
“ADL remains steadfast in its commitment to fight antisemitism and hate with every ounce of energy we have,” he continued. “We are working actively with authorities in cities across the country to identify the perpetrators of hate and to protect our community. We call on leaders throughout our country to speak out against antisemitism and stand alongside the Jewish community in the face of this wave of hate before it gets any worse.”
Emily Wood is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]
