Attack on Jewish diners by Palestine supporters in Los Angeles investigated as possible hate crime (VIDEOS)

The LAPD has launched an investigation into a possible hate crime against Jews after pro-Palestine activists were filmed fighting with a man outside a restaurant amid a protest against Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The Los Angeles Police Department has launched a hate-crime investigation following the disturbing incident on Tuesday night. Police said they were looking for three suspects. 

A partial video of the altercation, filmed by a bystander, shows a man backing away from an approaching group of people, some of whom are wearing headscarves. The man then picks up a metal rope post and swings it at one of his opponents. Several people then attack and quickly overpower the man.

A video filmed from another angle shows the group pinning someone who appears to be the same man against an SUV and beating him. Someone is heard saying through a loudspeaker, “Guys! Guys! It’s not worth it!” – after which the group leaves. 

Witnesses told the local NBC affiliate that a group of men was originally shouting pro-Palestinian slogans from a convoy of cars and yelled several anti-Semitic remarks at Jews sitting outside a sushi restaurant on North La Cienega Boulevard. A diner was said to have yelled back, prompting pro-Palestinian protesters to attack him. 

KTLA TV channel quoted witnesses saying that the pro-Palestinian men jumped out of their cars and asked some people outside the sushi restaurant if any of them were Jewish, and the fight broke out after two replied that they were.

The men could be heard yelling “F**k you,” “You guys should be ashamed of yourselves,” and “Israel kills children!” the Los Angeles Times reported. According to the Times, one diner was later treated for injuries.

The alleged victim, who wanted to be only identified as M, spoke to local ABC affiliate KABC-TV. He said he was out with four Jewish friends celebrating an upcoming wedding. According to M, the attackers were “cussing at Jews” and throwing glass bottles at their table. That was when M grabbed the rope post, he said.

“I realized I had to take something to scare them. There were many girls behind us. I was scared that they would attack everybody,” the man said. 

M said he was pepper-sprayed and sustained a head injury. He went to hospital for treatment and said he was doing “much better.”

Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League, a group that fights anti-Semitism, offered to pay $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the assault on the diners. 

LA City Council member Paul Koretz called the attack “absolutely outrageous.” 

We’re not going to bring the conflict from the Middle East here and allow people to be attacked on our streets because of what they look like and what they appear ethnically.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement condemning the attack. The group urged authorities to “find and prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the law.”

The dramatic escalation of the conflict between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel has killed at least 230 people in Gaza and 12 in Israel since May 10, according to local officials.

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