Feds probing anti-Israel protest outside LA synagogue as Garland decries antisemitism
Federal officials are investigating a weekend demonstration against Israel that spiraled into violence as protesters blocked access to a Los Angeles synagogue, US Attorney General Merrick Garland says, saying the incident appeared to have been motivated by antisemitic hate.
Fighting between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and counterprotesters erupted Sunday outside the Adas Torah synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood and police were called in to break it up. One person was arrested, and footage showed at least one pro-Israel figure badly bloodied.
Garland says the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California “have been and, as we speak, are collecting evidence on that matter.”
The “Justice Department will not tolerate criminal acts motivated by antisemitic hate,” Garland says, becoming emotional as he recalls his family’s own history fleeing the pogroms of eastern Europe at the start of the 20th century.
“Let me promise to the Jewish community that this Justice Department will do everything within its power, working with federal partners and state and local partners, to secure the community’s safety,” he says. “And as attorney general, I will do everything in my power to do that.”
Garland does not comment further on what exactly officials are examining.
US President Joe Biden condemned the violence in a post Monday on social media platform X. “Intimidating Jewish congregants is dangerous, unconscionable, antisemitic, and un-American,” Biden said.
The Los Angeles Police Department on Monday began providing additional patrols in Pico-Robertson and outside houses of worship citywide.
