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Media Distorts Mob Attack on Los Angeles Synagogue with ‘Both Sides’ Slander
Anti-Israel demonstrators outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily-Jewish Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles, June 23, 2024. Photo: Screenshot
The footage is as clear as day: a mob of anti-Israel protesters, some with keffiyehs and black masks wrapped around their faces, assault visibly observant Jews and then clash with riot police.
In one clip posted on the social media site X (formerly known as Twitter), a visibly observant Jew is attacked, and in another, several men in skullcaps try to pull one of the rioters away from an ultra-Orthodox man.
A journalist at the scene described Jews being sprayed with pepper spray, and another recounted seeing “Jews being pushed down and beaten bloody in the street.”
Armed with sticks and waving PLO flags, the mob massed outside the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles for their anti-Israel rally on Sunday.
Reports suggest the location was chosen because it was hosting an Israeli real estate fair. But it’s clear that most of the mob was there because it was a synagogue — evident when the keffiyeh-clad crew linked arms around the building to prevent synagogue attendees from entering.
The video footage from the Palestine protest outside of a synagogue in LA are shocking.
Mob of protestors using violence against Jews in broad daylight.
How does this movement have any legitimacy? https://t.co/guPtwrHBG4 pic.twitter.com/5dNF3oOk8w
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) June 23, 2024
California Governor Gavin Newsom condemned the disturbing scenes. “The violent clashes outside the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles are appalling. There is no excuse for targeting a house of worship,” he posted on X, adding: “Such antisemitic hatred has no place in California.”
California Congressman Ted Lieu (D) also commented, describing the incident as antisemitic and calling for the prosecution of the people who targeted the synagogue.
Yet, for reasons unknown, much of the media was quick to use the “both sides” narrative, and create a moral equivalency between the mob and their Jewish targets.
The press refused to describe the incident as anything but exactly what it was: an antisemitic attack by a baying anti-Israel mob.
There’s nothing “Pro-Palestinian” about a mob protesting outside a synagogue, @CNN.https://t.co/GclC1WK490 pic.twitter.com/btWgk5csFV
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) June 24, 2024
The Los Angeles Times, for example, described what occurred as a “violent clash” in a headline that reported the presence of one protester carrying a “spiked flag,” while CNN said “violent scuffles” had erupted without stating which group was responsible for the violence.
CBS News had the gall to claim that the counterprotesters, who had assembled to protect the synagogue and its congregants from the attack, were taking part in the “dueling protests.”
The same report also attempted to imply that antisemitic rioters were the victims in the incident, with a CBS journalist saying that one side was simply “demanding a ceasefire and decrying Israeli policies towards Palestinians as pro-Israel groups countered them verbally and physically.”
“With one side demanding a ceasefire & decrying Israeli policies towards Palestinians as pro-Israel groups countered them verbally and physically.”
Is @CBSNews‘s @kcalnews seriously implying that peaceful “pro-Palestinians” were the victims of pro-Israeli violence? pic.twitter.com/snGzt6BXpp
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) June 24, 2024
The facts are these: Jews were attacked at a synagogue. They were attacked by antisemitic thugs because they are Jews. This wasn’t about Israel, and it wasn’t about the Palestinians.
There are no two sides to this story. Shame on the media for pretending there was.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post Media Distorts Mob Attack on Los Angeles Synagogue with ‘Both Sides’ Slander 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.