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Anti-Israel Activists Swarm Los Angeles Synagogue, Assault and Batter Jews
Anti-Israel demonstrators outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily-Jewish Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles, June 23, 2024. Photo: Screenshot
A violent anti-Israel demonstration outside of a Los Angeles synagogue over the weekend sparked outrage by public officials and a forceful pushback by the local Jewish community.
The demonstrators descended upon the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily-Jewish Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles on Sunday. The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and Code Pink LA, organizations with an extensive history of anti-Israel activism, said the protest was an attempt to prevent a real estate auction event at the synagogue.
“OUR LAND IS NOT FOR SALE! This Sunday, a real estate event will be marketing homes in ‘anglo neighborhoods’ in effort to further occupy Palestine,” PYM said on Instagram.
“Racist settler expansionists are not welcome in Los Angeles! This blatant example of land theft is operating in our own backyard. The Nakba is ongoing and must be confronted!” the group continued. Many Palestinians and anti-Israel activists use the term “Nakba,” or “catastrophe,” to refer to the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948.
On Sunday, the demonstrators waved Palestine flags and donned keffiyehs while blocking entry into the synagogue. Many of the protesters also covered their faces in an apparent attempt to avoid identification. They chanted “intifada revolution” and “free Palestine” in front of the building while intimidating bystanders. After catching wind of the protest, a crowd of pro-Israel counter-protesters subsequently flooded the scene in an attempt to defend the synagogue.
Videos that circulated on social media showed the demonstrations descending into complete chaos and violence. Anti-Israel activists were recorded shoving, punching, and screaming at those attempting to defend the synagogue. In one instance, according to the videos, a Jewish woman was shoved to the ground and stomped on by pro-Palestinian activists as pro-Israel counterprotesters struggled to ward the swarm off her. Another video showed two anti-Israel activists cornering a woman carrying an Israeli flag, ignoring demands to “get off” her.
It’s 2024. Not the 1930s.
This is Los Angeles. Not Nazi Germany.
This past Shabbat, a violent mob blockaded Jews from attending synagogue, and attacked them while calling for a global intifada.
The rise in violence against Jews is a stark reminder of the dangers of… pic.twitter.com/rUS7jbc2rp
— World Jewish Congress (@WorldJewishCong) June 24, 2024
Police struggled to contain the raucous and violent clashes, resorting to striking some protesters with batons to assert control over the demonstrations. Some participants in the protests alleged that officers indiscriminately hit individuals in both camps out of frustration.
The skirmishes spilled out into the greater community as anti-Israel protesters targeted and in some cases vandalized Jewish-owned businesses. Surveillance video captured a man throwing a rock through the window of a Jewish-owned store.
Protesters also reportedly broke through a Jewish-owned storefront with a mezuzah — a small parchment scroll containing Hebrew verses from the Torah that members of the Jewish community fix to their doorposts. Pro-Israel supporters attempted to defend the stores, leading to further clashes. Los Angeles police subsequently started a hate crime investigation into the incidents.
“Apparently, only me and my neighbor who have a mezuzah outside got broken into,” a Jewish shop owner told KTLA. “So, we know it’s a hate crime, and oddly enough, when we came in, there was a rock that said ‘payback’ and ‘glory,’ and I don’t know what that means.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass denounced the protests in a statement, saying she would dispatch additional law enforcement to ensure the safety of religious worshippers.
“Today’s violence in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood today was abhorrent, and blocking access to a place of worship is unacceptable,” Bass said. “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 [interim] Chief [Dominic] Choi tomorrow to further discuss the safety of Angelenos.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom released a statement saying 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.”
US President Joe Biden also addressed the demonstrations.
“I’m appalled by the scenes outside of Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles. Intimidating Jewish congregants is dangerous, unconscionable, antisemitic, and un-American,” he said in a statement. “Americans have a right to peaceful protest. But blocking access to a house of worship — and engaging in violence — is never acceptable.”
The post Anti-Israel Activists Swarm Los Angeles Synagogue, Assault and Batter Jews first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.