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Los Angeles police discovered a pint-sized, keffiyeh-clad surprise in the back seat of a car as anti-Israel protesters brought chaos to one of the nation’s largest Jewish communities.

(Video Credit: KCAL News)

Hamas sympathies raged in the City of Angels Sunday as violent protesters took to the Pico-Robertson neighborhood, assembling outside the Adas Torah synagogue before 11 a.m. While police in riot gear observed, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times, fistfights and stick-wielding scuffles broke out while one couple in particular drew attention after they were ultimately detained.

Video shared by KCAL News highlighted how a masked man driving a Range Rover and a woman hurling invectives while standing up through the sunroof, waving a flag that read “Free Palestine,” were restrained.

After the couple was handcuffed, one member of the LAPD could be seen removing a toddler from the backseat of the vehicle.

Image via X

According to the newspaper, amid the fighting and reports of blocked access to the house of worship, only one arrest was confirmed as a police spokesperson indicated a misdemeanor charge had been filed for allegedly carrying “a spiked flag” prohibited at the protest. It was unclear if that referred to the woman from the Range Rover.

While KCAL detailed “No major injuries were reported,” former LA City Council candidate Sam Yebri reported far worse as he alleged the police had been instructed to “stand down” despite warnings from the community.

“Today is a dark stain in the history of Los Angeles,” he began a lengthy post on X. “Violent extremists who proudly praise Hamas and Hezbollah marched outside an Orthodox synagogue in America’s most heavily Jewish neighborhood outside of New York — where my kids go to school, where my family worships, where my family eat and shop — and brazenly terrorized Jewish Angelenos with impunity and without any consequence.”

“These violent masked domestic terrorists bludgeoned Jews, vandalized synagogues, schools and stores, keyed cars, assaulted anyone who appeared Jewish, blocked Jews from entering their synagogue, and chanted for genocide of the Jewish people,” he went on accusing the protesters of “hunting Jews” while elected officials and the LAPD allowed it to happen. “This is not hyperbole or a political statement. This is a fact.”

“Doesn’t belong here,” said Rabbi Hertzel Illulian to KCAL. “I don’t think the Jewish would go in front of a mosque or the Christian people would go in front of a mosque to do such a thing, nobody would accept this, but here, when it comes to Jews and Israel everything is kosher, everything is okay.”

In their own statement on the protests, the United Jewish Coalition matched the tone of Yerbi and contended, “The Jews of Los Angeles are no longer safe. The events of June 23rd brought to life the darkest nightmare many of us hoped we would never witness on American soil.”

Meanwhile, elected officials such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) released statements of outrage regarding the violence.

“The violent clashes outside the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles are appalling. There is no excuse for targeting a house of worship. Such antisemitic hatred has no place in California,” said Newsom while a message from Bass read, “Today’s violence in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood today was abhorrent, and blocking access to a place of worship is unacceptable. I’ve called on LAPD to provide additional patrols in the Pico-Robertson community as well as outside of houses of worship throughout the city. I’ll be meeting with Chief Choi tomorrow to further discuss the safety of Angelenos.”

“I want to be clear that Los Angeles will not be a harbor for antisemitism and violence,” she added. “Those responsible for either will be found and held accountable. I will be joining Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, the Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Federation, Los Angeles Rabbi Noah Farkas and other law enforcement and faith leaders in a community meeting as we talk about steps forward, together.”

Kevin Haggerty
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