Ariel Yaakov Marciano, 24, was attacked this past Sunday at the Santa Monica Pier by a group of around 20 young men. Marciano, who had traveled from Sacramento to Los Angeles for his cousin’s bar mitzvah, was exploring the area when he noticed dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators holding Palestinian and Mexican flags.
“I was wearing my Star of David necklace, I also met another Israeli man from Las Vegas, and we were speaking Hebrew, so they realized we were Israeli,” Marciano recalled. “At that point, they attacked me. One of them hit me on the back of the head, and I started bleeding. Others pushed me around and tore the necklace off my neck. I pushed one of the masked attackers, and then they all jumped on me.”
Marciano said he doesn’t know what happened to the man from Las Vegas who was accompanied by his wife and two children, one of whom suffers from Muscular Dystrophy and was in a wheelchair.
Although there were many bystanders in the area, it took a while before someone stepped in to help Marciano. The shaken young man quickly uploaded a video to Instagram showing blood running down his face. In the video, he pleaded:
“All Israelis in L.A., come to Santa Monica—they just lynched me here.”
On his way to the police station, Marciano, shouting “God bless Israel,” was pepper-sprayed by one of the protesters.
“The police didn’t do anything, but I can’t really blame them. There were too many demonstrators, and there’s nothing much the police can do against so many. The ones who attacked me were Mexicans, and one tall Black guy held a knife to me and said, ‘You’re lucky I’m not stabbing you.”
A week earlier, several Israelis were also attacked while walking home from synagogue near Wilshire and Crescent Heights. Eyal Dahan, who has two American-born sons currently serving in combat units in the IDF, recounted:
“We were coming back from synagogue when a group of Hispanics ran toward us. They demanded that I say, ‘Free Palestine.’ I responded with, ‘Long Live the IDF.’ Then someone came from behind and punched me, knocking my kippah off my head. They also attacked my neighbor Shlomi, who was with me, and another friend who was with us. The police were across the street but did nothing, even though this is clearly a hate crime.”
Dahan added that he recognized the attacker from a video Marciano later posted on social media. “It‘s the same guy who attacked me. They’re being paid $150 for three hours of protesting. They have nothing better to do.”
Marciano, whose cousin Guy Illouz, 26, was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in Re’im and later murdered in Hamas captivity, said he has no intention of hiding his Jewish identity.
“I lost one cousin in this war and another during Operation Protective Edge. I’m not going to stop wearing my Star of David or any other Jewish symbols. I don’t mind people protesting, but don’t attack someone just because they’re Jewish.”
Three hours after the assault, and after his chain was torn from his neck, Marciano was sitting in a restaurant overlooking the street when a man approached him and returned his necklace.
“He was a Chinese guy who said, ‘Here, this is yours.’ I don’t know how he found me, but my Star of David necklace was returned to me and I intend to continue wearing it.”
