A group of men, wearing Palestinian kaffiyehs around their heads as masks, allegedly attacked a group of Jewish diners at a restaurant in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening in what authorities are investigating as a possible antisemitic hate crime.
CBS Los Angeles reported
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.
There were reportedly no injuries or arrests at the time.
Global Jewish human rights group
Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) has issued the following statement on the attack on Jewish diners that took place at a restaurant in Los Angeles last night.
Against the backdrop of a spate of violent attacks, hate crimes and intimidation by backers of Hamas from Berlin to Toronto, the Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced a violent attack against Jewish diners by Palestinian thugs in Los Angeles last night.
“The SWC was informed of the incident almost immediately and reached out to Los Angeles Police Department officials and Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz”, said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, SWC Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action. “The LAPD and a senior aide to City Councilman Paul Koretz, Greg Martayan, were on the scene very quickly. SWC Calls on Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti to bolster the LAPD and pursue prosecutions against Palestinian thugs who attacked those Jewish diners as well as those who vandalized a kosher establishment in North Hollywood. We need the Mayor to lead because our community can’t expect any action from Los Angeles’ woke District Attorney.”
“Los Angeles is the 2nd city for almost every national and ethnic group in the world. That means wherever there is a flashpoint around the world someone feels it intensely. That is doubly true about the Gaza War for both Jews and Palestinians. With social media lit up with anti-Israel and blatant Jew-hatred 24/7, there is reason to be concerned. We have seen what has happened in Toronto, Montreal, UK, France and Germany; the anti-Semitic chants, the violence, even targeting of Jewish institutions. We need local leaders everywhere to step up and defend against any violence but also to establish lines of communication with other community leaders.”
“No one in Williamsburg (NY), Golders Green (London), or Los Angeles started this conflict and no one has the power to impact on events in the Holy Land, but that hasn’t stopped the hate threats and violence from proliferating in too many places. We need our elected officials, law enforcement, and the media to give these concerns serious attention”, Rabbi Cooper concluded.
