A Jewish man was assaulted leaving Adas Torah, an Orthodox synagogue in Los Angeles, on Monday evening, according to Israel Bachar, Israeli consul general to the Pacific Southwest.
The attacker yelled “free Palestine” at the victim, the Israeli envoy told JNS.
Video footage circulating on social media appeared to show a man in a dark blue hoodie and hat exiting a van and attacking the victim, whose face is blurred, in an alleyway. The video seems to show the victim thrown to the ground and the attacker driving away. (JNS sought comment from the synagogue.)
Rosario Cervantes, a Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman, told JNS that police officers took a report of a felony battery and a hate crime at 9:51 p.m. at the synagogue’s address on Monday.
Cervantes did not confirm if the victim is Jewish or if the attacker made any antisemitic remarks. “It’s an ongoing investigation,” she told JNS.
David Englin, senior Los Angeles regional director at the Anti-Defamation League, told JNS that he spoke with the victim and the footage on social media accurately captures the assault. Englin also said that the attacker shouted “free Palestine” at the victim.
“The victim was leaving synagogue through a back entrance, and he’s dressed in traditional Jewish dress, so very obviously Jewish,” he told JNS. “The attacker kind of rolled up in a vehicle, and they had some sort of brief conversation through the window of the vehicle.”
“Then the guy jumped out of the vehicle and jumped him and pushed him against the wall and was kind of choking him on the neck,” Englin said. The victim “fought back and that ultimately caused the attacker to leave,” he added, “but he’s pretty shaken up.”
A private ambulance treated the victim onsite, and he was not hospitalized, according to Englin.
Englin told JNS that the ADL is in “close contact” with the police and victim. “We anticipate an arrest in the very near future,” he said.
