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Los Angeles Has Failed Its Jewish Residents
Anti-Israel demonstrators outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily-Jewish Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles, June 23, 2024. Photo: Screenshot
Over the past few days, my hometown of Los Angeles has been gripped by a wave of antisemitic unrest that shows no sign of stopping. In the Pico-Robertson neighborhood, one of the city’s most Jewish areas, pro-Palestinian demonstrators showed up to the Adas Torah Synagogue to protest an Israeli real estate event.
The so-called “activists” circulated threats on social media before arriving, urging people to come show synagogue congregants that “Our land is not for sale” and that “racist settlers are not welcome in Los Angeles.”
Unsurprisingly, the demonstration swiftly descended into chaos and violence, with videos showing the protestors blocking entrances to the synagogue, chasing down Jews, holding signs like “Nazi Israel,” and chanting “There is only one solution, intifada revolution.”
Verbal confrontations between Jews trying to enter the house of worship and the mob of protestors quickly erupted into violence, with footage from the scene showing demonstrators throwing punches, kicking, and using the handles of their signs as weapons. Only one pro-Palestinian activist was arrested — for holding a spiked flag.
A viral image from the unrest showed an Israel supporter with a bloodied face. Another Israel supporter told Ynet News that a demonstrator punched him in the face and knocked him to the ground, where he was kicked and “hit many times on my head.” A woman was beaten in the streets.
Angry masked men prowling the streets looking for Jews. This is LA in 2024. pic.twitter.com/8BYYf64eFq
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) June 24, 2024
This unrest is only the latest example of a disturbing recent trend, in which pro-Palestinian demonstrators target Jewish spaces under the guise of “activism,” terrorizing houses of worship, university Hillels, and Jewish community organizations while claiming that there is nothing antisemitic about their campaign of intimidation. Such despicable behavior has been going on for months — including in Los Angeles, where only a month ago, UCLA was home to some of the most blatant instances of virulent campus antisemitism, with videos emerging nearly every day of their student encampment, where masked pro-Palestinian students blocked Jewish students from entering public campus spaces.
Last year, two visibly Jewish men were shot in Los Angeles — and targeted for death because of their religion.
This pattern has undoubtedly been facilitated by the permissiveness of city and university officials, who have allowed an antisemitic climate to fester without taking decisive measures to combat the rising temperature of hostility.
In Los Angeles, city officials have repeatedly shrugged off the obvious antisemitic threat — including at the Adas Torah event. The synagogues’ rabbi told The New York Times that the city clearly did not send enough LAPD officers, and reports showed that it took hours for the police to receive orders to intervene and separate the protestors, despite their initial vague presence at the scene.
The inadequacy of this response is particularly galling because it is not the first time the city has seen protests at such conferences, which have been going on since March and attracting significant crowds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators each time. The city’s inability to properly allocate resources to keep its Jewish residents safe, despite an obvious track record of intimidation and unrest, shows that Jewish safety is simply not a priority at all for the city’s leaders.
On top of that, while the police are still investigating two reported incidents of battery, no arrests were made besides the spiked flag. This, too, speaks to a pattern of leniency for antisemitic threats and violence. Despite the months of unrest at UCLA, during which Jewish students were subjected to verbal and physical harassment, it took an extreme escalation into a night of violent clashes before the police made a single arrest.
The city’s message to its Jewish residents is clear: we take every crime against a minority seriously, except the ones that are committed against you.
Los Angeles city officials downplayed, mishandled, and failed to prosecute the violence at Adas Torah, and they will continue to make these mistakes unless they are held accountable for the myriad ways they have let down the Jewish residents of this city.
Sheila Nazarian is a Los Angeles physician and star of the Emmy-nominated Netflix series Skin Decision: Before and After. Follower her on Instagram (drsheilanazarian) — and on X.
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Antisemitic Incidents at Argentina Local Soccer Match Spark Official Investigations, Condemnations
Fans of Argentinian soccer club All Boys marched through the streets before their match against Atlanta soccer club, carrying a coffin draped with an Israeli flag alongside Iranian and Palestinian flags. Photo: Screenshot
Argentinian authorities and soccer officials have launched investigations following antisemitic incidents by Club Atlético All Boys fans during Sunday’s local match against Atlanta.
Atlanta, a soccer team based in the Villa Crespo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, has deep historical ties to Argentina’s Jewish community, which has long been a significant presence in the area.
This latest antisemitic incident took place outside the stadium before the game had even started.
All Boys fans were seen waving Palestinian and Iranian flags, carrying a coffin draped with an Israeli flag, and handing out flyers bearing messages like “Free Palestine” and “Israel and Atlanta are the same crap.”
Before a football match today against the Argentine sports club Atlanta, which is closely associated with the Jewish community, fans of the opposing team, All Boys, waved Islamic Republic and Palestinian flags while parading a coffin draped in an Israeli flag through the streets.… pic.twitter.com/IQs4v6eoFz
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) June 29, 2025
Then, during the match — which ended in a 0-0 draw — a drone carrying a Palestinian flag flew over the stadium, while some fans reportedly chanted anti-Israel slogans.
Local police confirmed they have issued citations to individuals accused of inciting public disorder and related offenses.
On Monday, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) condemned the incidents as “abhorrent” and confirmed the organization has opened a formal inquiry into the events.
“This is not folklore. This is discrimination,” the statement reads.
Argentina’s Security Minister Patricia Bullrich also announced that a criminal complaint has been filed, citing “acts of violence, expressions of racial and religious hatred, and public intimidation.”
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, condemned the incidents and called on both local authorities and the soccer officials to “take firm action against these acts of hatred.”
“We urge the authorities to take all necessary actions and apply the full force of the law,” the statement reads. “Violence and discrimination must have no place in our society.”
Repudiamos enérgicamente las expresiones antisemitas ocurridas hoy en las inmediaciones del estadio Malvinas Argentinas.
Exigimos a las autoridades correspondientes, a la AFA y al Club All Boys que actúen con firmeza ante estos hechos de odio.
La violencia y la discriminación no… pic.twitter.com/3AmY7IQscY— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) June 29, 2025
Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Argentina has experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents and anti-Jewish hate crimes.
According to a recent report by DAIA, Argentina experienced a 15 percent increase in antisemitic activity last year, with 687 anti-Jewish hate crimes recorded — up from 598 incidents in 2023 — marking a significant rise nationwide.
The study indicates that 66 percent of the antisemitic incidents originated in the digital realm, with a significant rise in Nazi symbols and conspiracy theories, but there was also a 34 percent increase in reported physical assaults, with such hate crimes rising in schools and neighborhoods.
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Iranian nuclear program degraded by up to two years, Pentagon says
A satellite image of Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility. Photo: File.
The Pentagon said on Wednesday that US strikes 10 days ago had degraded Iran’s nuclear program by up to two years, suggesting the U.S. military operation likely achieved its goals despite a far more cautious initial assessment that leaked to the public.
Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, offered the figure at a briefing to reporters, adding that the official estimate was “probably closer to two years.” Parnell did not provide evidence to back up his assessment.
“We have degraded their program by one to two years, at least intel assessments inside the Department [of Defense] assess that,” Parnell told a news briefing.
U.S. military bombers carried out strikes against three Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22 using more than a dozen 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs and more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles.
The evolving U.S. intelligence about the impact of the strikes is being closely watched, after President Donald Trump said almost immediately after they took place that Iran’s program had been obliterated, language echoed by Parnell at Wednesday’s briefing.
Such conclusions often take the U.S. intelligence community weeks or more to determine.
“All of the intelligence that we’ve seen [has] led us to believe that Iran’s — those facilities especially, have been completely obliterated,” Parnell said.
Over the weekend, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, said that Iran could be producing enriched uranium in a few months, raising doubts about how effective US strikes to destroy Tehran’s nuclear program have been.
Several experts have also cautioned that Iran likely moved a stockpile of near weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of the deeply buried Fordow site before the strikes and could be hiding it.
But US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week he was unaware of intelligence suggesting Iran had moved its highly enriched uranium to shield it from US strikes.
A preliminary assessment last week from the Defense Intelligence Agency suggested that the strikes may have only set back Iran’s nuclear program by months. But Trump administration officials said that assessment was low confidence and had been overtaken by intelligence showing Iran’s nuclear program was severely damaged.
According to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, the strikes on the Fordow nuclear site caused severe damage.
“No one exactly knows what has transpired in Fordow. That being said, what we know so far is that the facilities have been seriously and heavily damaged,” Araqchi said in the interview broadcast by CBS News on Tuesday.
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Switzerland Moves to Close Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s Geneva Office Over Legal Irregularities
Palestinians carry aid supplies received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
Switzerland has moved to shut down the Geneva office of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed aid group, citing legal irregularities in its establishment.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza in late May, implementing a new aid delivery model aimed at preventing the diversion of supplies by Hamas, as Israel continues its defensive military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group.
The initiative has drawn criticism from the UN and international organizations, some of which have claimed that Jerusalem is causing starvation in the war-torn enclave.
Israel has vehemently denied such accusations, noting that, until its recently imposed blockade, it had provided significant humanitarian aid in the enclave throughout the war.
Israeli officials have also said much of the aid that flows into Gaza is stolen by Hamas, which uses it for terrorist operations and sells the rest at high prices to Gazan civilians.
With a subsidiary registered in Geneva, the GHF — headquartered in Delaware — reports having delivered over 56 million meals to Palestinians in just one month.
According to a regulatory announcement published Wednesday in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce, the Federal Supervisory Authority for Foundations (ESA) may order the dissolution of the GHF if no creditors come forward within the legal 30-day period.
The Trump administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Swiss decision to shut down its Geneva office.
“The GHF confirmed to the ESA that it had never carried out activities in Switzerland … and that it intends to dissolve the Geneva-registered branch,” the ESA said in a statement.
Last week, Geneva authorities gave the GHF a 30-day deadline to address legal shortcomings or risk facing enforcement measures.
Under local laws and regulations, the foundation failed to meet several requirements: it did not appoint a board member authorized to sign documents domiciled in Switzerland, did not have the minimum three board members, lacked a Swiss bank account and valid address, and operated without an auditing body.
The GHF operates independently from UN-backed mechanisms, which Hamas has sought to reinstate, arguing that these vehicles are more neutral.
Israeli and American officials have rejected those calls, saying Hamas previously exploited UN-run systems to siphon aid for its war effort.
The UN has denied those allegations while expressing concerns that the GHF’s approach forces civilians to risk their safety by traveling long distances across active conflict zones to reach food distribution points.
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