Mayor Karen Bass, Representative Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Commander Steve Lurie were among those who participated in a June 26 virtual community security briefing about the anti-Israel riot in front of Adas Torah Synagogue on June 23.
The briefing was hosted by the Jewish Security Alliance: the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Los Angeles and the Community Security Service (CSS). Bass called what happened on June 23 that “abhorrent” and “unacceptable” and that it required an “urgent” response. She has requested that the LAPD increase patrols in the neighborhood. “Los Angeles will not be a harbor for antisemitism and violence,” Bass declared.
The mayor announced that on June 27 she will be working to convene leaders from houses of worship to determine how to keep congregants safe. Additionally, Bass said that after consulting with City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto, they don’t believe that an anti-mask ordinance would survive “judicial scrutiny” but are looking into “buffer zones.”
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D- Encino) thanked Bass for her “incredible friendship and partnership” to the Jewish community; he touted a recent state budget agreement that provides a “record $160 million” for the nonprofit security grant program as “a major, major commitment from the state of California.” Gabriel announced that some of the funding was going to be expedited following a conversation he had with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky said during the briefing that there has been an “alarming rise in antisemitism in Los Angeles and beyond” for the past year-and-a-half and that what happened on June 23 is not an isolated incident and “warrants a citywide response.” She announced that she introduced a motion on June 26 calling for $1 million in neighborhood security initiatives with the goal of “expediting and expanding” the state funding that Gabriel discussed.
Sherman pointed out that on June 20, “groups of thugs came to Shaarey Zedek Congregation in the valley” and then to Adas Torah “to scream and disrupt; this is more proof that anti-Zionism is indeed antisemitism.” He also touted how in Congress that he convinced Republicans to put in $2.2 million for his district, which includes $1.2 million for the Federation’s Community Security Initiative, that said, Sherman acknowledged that it would likely be “many months” before the district sees that money since it will have to go through the Senate.
Lurie, the LAPD’s Jewish liaison, explained that the anti-Israel protest in front of Shaarey Zedek was smaller and less violent but group behind it was involved in the June 23 protest at Adas Torah. The LAPD was aware of what was being planned for that day, but acknowledged that their intelligence on “how many” and “the level of vitriol” to be was incorrect. “In the intelligence world, sometimes that unfortunately happens,” he said. “We operate on our best estimate on what to expect.”
The LAPD deployed over a dozen police officers “in anticipation of that event” because they thought it would be similar to the protest in front of Shaarey Zedek but they were “overwhelmed.” “We immediately called for more officers,” Lurie said, adding that around 60-75 officers were there within 45-55 minutes, which he said was “frustrating and is a long time, but does represent a fairly rapid response when we have to grab police officers from all over the city.” He contended that once the reinforcements were there, the LAPD was better able to separate the groups and did the best they could to keep “criminals away from the synagogue.”
Lurie acknowledged some in the community are frustrated; they believe the police didn’t act forcefully enough. But Lurie said that the police need to uphold the First Amendment, though it’s not “absolute.” It doesn’t protect violence, nor does it protect those who bar people from entering a synagogue.
The police currently do not have any intel on any repeat events or similar events in “the near future,” Lurie said. That the police are reviewing footage from June 23 to determine if there were any “missed opportunities” to arrest people.
Lurie later emphatically denied allegations that the police were told to stand down by elected officials, calling them “patently untrue” and “nonsense.” Those allegations were referred by others in the briefing as false. He also contended that the “act of blocking” a house of worship is moving toward an area “where it could be considered a hate crime.”
ADL Los Angeles Regional Director Jeffrey Abrams pointed out in the briefing that there already is an existing masking statute in the California penal code and it’s important to look at if it needs to be changed; he also noted that permits are often not really required and that issue too might need to be looked at again.
The Federation’s President & Chief Executive Officer, Rabbi Noah Farkas, moderated the briefing, and in his concluding remarks said that while “it’s really dark out there,” things like Jewish kids having fun at summer camp “gives me hope” and he knows that the “dark days will pass.”
