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Uneasy calm pervades Los Angeles Jewish neighborhood after arrest of suspect in 2 shootings
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — The morning after Los Angeles police arrested a man suspected of shooting two Jews outside their synagogues, the biggest indicator of disruption in the neighborhood where the incidents took place was a caravan of news trucks.
Along Pico Boulevard, the thoroughfare running through the Pico-Robertson neighborhood that is home to a large and diverse Jewish community, people were heading to prayer services, shopping for groceries and picking up bagels — standard activities for a Friday morning.
Some said they might not have been doing so if the gunman behind the shootings that took place on Wednesday and Thursday mornings was still at large.
“There’s a lot of moms that walk up and down taking their kids to school,” said Taryn, whose children attend a local Jewish day school, outside the Elat Market kosher grocery store. “When they hadn’t found somebody I did take my car because I didn’t feel safe walking. It affects our lives.”
Taryn, who declined to share her last name because of privacy concerns, recently moved to Los Angeles from South Africa. She said she was concerned about crime generally but was disconcerted by learning about the alleged shooter’s antisemitic animus.
“Obviously it’s very scary having heard that this guy specifically targeted Jews,” she said. “It’s definitely scary. This is kind of, I guess, a reality check.”
Inside Temple Beth Am, a large Conservative synagogue in the area, some attendees at the weekday morning service said they were aware that shootings had taken place. Fewer knew that someone had been arrested.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles released a statement late Thursday saying that it had been informed by law enforcement that a man had been arrested in connection with the shootings, which left two men with injuries that were not life-threatening. The federation also said it had been informed that the suspect has “a history of animus towards the Jewish community.”
No further details about the man’s identity, history or attitude toward Jews had been released by midday Friday. The Los Angeles Police Department said the suspect had been “taken into custody without incident” in nearby Riverside County, and a rifle and handgun had been recovered there.
“I’m grateful for the stellar work of our people,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore said on Twitter. “There’s much more to this incident that we will share at the appropriate time.”
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The post Uneasy calm pervades Los Angeles Jewish neighborhood after arrest of suspect in 2 shootings appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Egyptian-British Activist Apologizes for Antisemitic Social Media Posts as Police Launch Review
Prominent British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who was released from prison after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a presidential pardon for him, gestures as family and friends gather at home in Giza, Egypt, Sept. 23, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
Activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, freed from prison in Egypt and now in Britain, apologized on Monday for his “shocking and hurtful” social media posts made more than a decade ago, which counter-terrorism police said they are assessing.
Abd el-Fattah, 44, became Egypt’s most prominent political prisoner after spending years in and out of detention and a rare symbol of opposition during a crackdown under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
He arrived in Britain last Friday after obtaining British citizenship in 2021 through his mother, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying he was “delighted” by the news.
In the following days, British newspapers ran stories about antisemitic posts he made on the former Twitter platform between 2008 and 2014, seen by Reuters, which endorsed violence against “Zionists” and police.
In another he called British people “dogs and monkeys.”
Counter Terrorism Policing said the posts were being assessed following referrals from the public.
In a statement, Abd el-Fattah said many of his tweets had been misunderstood but that others were unacceptable.
“Looking at the tweets now – the ones that were not completely twisted out of their meaning – I do understand how shocking and hurtful they are, and for that I unequivocally apologize,” he said.
He added they were mostly “expressions of a young man’s anger and frustrations” at wars in Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza, and “the rise of police brutality against Egyptian youth.”
Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform UK party which tops opinion polls, called for Abd el-Fattah’s deportation. Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, said the country should consider it.
A spokesperson for Starmer said he was not aware of the posts when he campaigned for Abd el-Fattah’s release and called the comments “abhorrent”.”
But the spokesperson added the government has a record of helping its citizens overseas.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper later said she was also unaware of the posts and that her office would urgently review its processes after what she called “an unacceptable failure” of due diligence.
In a letter to lawmakers that was posted on X, Cooper said long-standing procedures and due diligence had been “completely inadequate” and promised changes to ensure accurate information and proper checks.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said his posts were of “profound concern.”
Abd el-Fattah was most recently serving a five-year sentence in Egypt imposed in December 2021, after he shared a social media post about a prisoner’s death.
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Three Turkish Police, six Islamic State Terrorists Killed in Clash, Amid National Crackdown
Turkish gendarmerie special forces team leaves the site where Turkish security forces launched an operation on a house believed to contain suspected Islamic State militants, and where, according to state media, seven officers were wounded in a clash, in Yalova province, Turkey, Dec. 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Three Turkish police officers and six Islamic State terrorists were killed in a gunfight in northwest Turkey on Monday, the Interior Minister said, a week after more than 100 suspected IS members were detained for planning Christmas and New Year attacks.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said eight police and another security force member were wounded in a raid on a property in the town of Yalova, on the Sea of Marmara coast south of Istanbul. More than 100 addresses were raided nationwide early on Monday.
Turkey has stepped up operations against suspected IS terrorists this year, as the group returns to prominence globally.
The US carried out a strike against the militants in northwest Nigeria last week, while two gunmen who attacked a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach this month appeared to be inspired by IS, Australian police have said.
On December 19, the US military launched large-scale strikes against dozens of IS targets in Syria in retaliation for an attack on American personnel.
RAID LASTED HOURS
Police raided the house in Yalova on the suspicion that terrorists were hiding there overnight. Sporadic gunfire was heard during the operation, which lasted nearly eight hours, according to a Reuters photographer at the scene.
Last week, Turkish police detained 115 suspected IS members they said were planning to carry out attacks on Christmas and New Year celebrations in the country.
Yerlikaya told reporters that the militants killed in Monday’s attack were all Turkish citizens, adding that five women and six children were brought out of the property alive.
In the last month, police arrested a total of 138 IS suspects and carried out simultaneous operations on Monday morning at 108 different addresses in 15 provinces, he added.
In a post on X, President Tayyip Erdogan offered his condolences to the families of the police officers killed, and said Turkey’s fight with “the bloody-handed villains who threaten the peace of our people and security of our state” will continue “both within our borders and beyond them.”
WAVE OF IS ATTACKS IN 2015-2017
Police had sealed off the road approaching the house in the early hours and smoke was visible rising from a nearby fire, while a police helicopter flew overhead.
The Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said last week that IS terrorists were planning attacks against non-Muslims in particular.
Almost a decade ago, the jihadist group was blamed for a series of attacks on civilian targets in Turkey, including gun attacks on an Istanbul nightclub and the city’s main airport, killing dozens of people.
Turkey was a key transit point for foreign fighters, including those of IS, entering and leaving Syria during the war there.
Police have carried out regular operations against the group in subsequent years and there have been few attacks since the wave of violence between 2015-2017.
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Australia Says Bondi Review to Check if Terror Attack Could Have Been Averted
People stand near flowers laid as a tribute at Bondi Beach to honor the victims of a mass shooting that targeted a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach on Sunday, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Flavio Brancaleone
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday an independent review into law enforcement agencies set up after the Bondi mass shooting will assess whether authorities could have taken additional steps to prevent the terrorist attack.
Albanese said the review will examine whether existing laws or information gaps stopped police and security agencies from acting against the alleged attackers, a father and son, who police say were inspired by the terrorist group Islamic State.
Fifteen people were killed in the mass shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach on Dec. 14, shocking a country with strict gun laws and fueling calls for tougher controls and stronger action against antisemitism.
Families of those killed and injured on Monday urged Albanese to set up a royal commission, the most powerful type of government inquiry, to probe the rise of antisemitism and any intelligence failures tied to the attack, Australian media reported on Monday.
“Announcements made so far by the federal government in response to the Bondi massacre are not nearly enough … You owe us answers. You owe us accountability. And you owe Australians the truth,” said a statement from the families of those involved in the mass shooting, according to media reports.
Reuters could not immediately contact the families for comment.
Albanese, who is facing mounting criticism from opponents who argue his government has not done enough to curb a rise in antisemitism, has been resisting calls to set up a royal commission into the attack. He reiterated it would take years for the inquiry to submit the report.
“The government is committed to making sure that we can’t wait years for answers. We need to get on with any changes that are required,” Albanese told reporters, while announcing the terms for the review into the attack.
Albanese said the independent committee will submit the report in April and the Parliament will resume as soon as possible next year to consider any legislation.