With the rise in violence against Jewish communities around the world, an Israel-based company is seeing an increased demand for their security products — protection dogs. Israel Protection K9 co-founder, Eli Bobroff took The Journal on a walk and demonstrated what exactly that means.

I met up with Bobroff and his Belgian Malinois Raja in Pan Pacific Park just before 7:00 a.m. Even at that early hour, there were plenty of distractions that would rattle even the best behaved family dogs: joggers, off-leash dogs playing fetch, and the screeching, drilling and hammering noises coming from the Holocaust Museum Los Angeles’ ongoing renovation.

Bobroff has a masterful grasp of dog psychology. To watch him work with Raja is akin to watching the last two minutes of an episode of “The Dog Whisperer” when the dog is perfectly trained and the owner has all the answers. Raja is a four-legged domestic force field. One conversation with Bobroff was enough to outline an entire documentary series about elite protection canines.

Raja is 7 years-old and weighs 75 pounds, with a thick light brown coat, and pointy black-outlined ears. Raja walks towards me in the parking lot, confident posture even with a hockey mask-like muzzle over his snout. Bobroff warns me in a calm voice to not make any big gestures toward him — it’s a simple way to convey to Raja that I am to be trusted. Raja keeps firm eye contact with me.

“Some dogs are very eager to please, and Raja is very in touch with me,” Bobroff said. “Handling him is much easier because he’s already trying to do the commands before I even give them.” We walked around the sidewalk of the park, Raja at complete attention.

Other dogs passed by, some barking at one another, and some playing in the wet grass.

“His restraint with other dogs is off the charts,” Bobroff said. Bobroff raised his hand and told Raja a short command in Hebrew. He walks with us like a furry soldier. His owner eschews the guard dog characterization — Raja is a protection dog, not a guard dog. This dog, and few others like him, are exceptionally trained at their four acre facility outside of Jerusalem. Israel Protection K9 is a white-glove service but with a catch — they only do business with qualified, vetted clients. And that’s with a client base that is already limited; dogs like Raja can cost over $100,000 each. The check clearing is far from enough.

Petting Raja felt like petting any other family dog, but much more muscular. Raja’s chest and ribcage felt engineered. Every part of him seemed to serve a clear purpose.

Beyond what kind of person buys these protection dogs, what kind of person trains them? Bobroff’s earliest dog memories were around age five or six, growing up in Los Angeles with a golden retriever on his neighborhood block. His mother’s allergies kept them from owning one themselves. Still, Bobroff always identified as an animal lover.

Bobroff got married at age 19, and he and his wife moved to Israel, where he would work in healthcare. He admits that he has an appetite for intensity; he’s into black diamond snowboarding and skydiving. When he learned about Israel Defense Forces veterans training protection dogs with off-the-charts intellect and strength, he knew he wanted one. But Bobroff couldn’t afford it, so he and his wife bought a white German shepherd, which he trained himself. He learned how to train these dogs under the tutelage of Arik Deri, who Bobroff describes as “one of one — the best dog trainer in Israel. Their work grew into a partnership and they then formed the Israel Protection K9 company. Bobroff and his family returned to Los Angeles, and since then, the company’s inventory has grown to over 50 dogs. And their standards are as high as can be.

The training of the dogs from Israel Protection K9 begins before they’re even born.

“We choose the male and the female specifically to create a certain outcome to balance it, with very specific bloodlines,” he said. At most, they’re enlisting only one or two puppies from any given litter to go through the training program. Like Navy SEAL training, there’s a significant failure rate, only a few get the protection dog distinction.

“You can’t control nature and you don’t know throughout a year and a half how it’ll go with this  intensive training process,” he said. The puppies who make it through the program show early signs of capability. Their rapid development from puppy to bona fide trainee goes quickly from “zero training to level 100.”

He explained that the company is in a sense, “engineering the dog,” and the earlier you do this with a dog, the better.  A misconception about the protection dog industry is that the dogs are unhinged killers who live by no rules.

 

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“You hear ‘protection dog’ and you picture [Hercules the Beast] from the film, ‘The Sandlot,’” he said. On screen, Hercules was a furious English mastiff that intimidated the entire town.

Not Raja.

At close range, Raja’s obedience and responsiveness show just how much of a well-calibrated tool he is.

“Look, he’s a weapon first, but he’s also a regular dog,” Bobroff said. When given the exact command — words and inflection that Bobroff doesn’t play around with — Raja can bite a target’s flesh down to their bone in 20 seconds. Not just reach, but crush the bone. Without the muzzle, Raja’s jaw muscles feel different, as if furry dog jowls could have toned biceps.

As the morning wears on, Pan Pacific Park starts to get slightly busier: parents pushing strollers, more dogs off leash doing their random friendly wrestling matches. Raja has no interest. He has a Kobe Bryant-like focus. Using a yellow rubber ball attached to a rope, Bobroff has Raja demonstrate just how high and far he can jump from a sitting posture—about four and a half feet high, and a broad distance of at least 9 feet.

“I could give him a command and he’ll clear this whole area and anyone he finds [to be a particular threat], he’ll take them out,” Bobroff said. No one else can activate Raja. Not a stranger, not even someone shouting the right commands in perfect Hebrew. Raja will just stare at you.

“You can’t steal this car and drive it,” Bobroff said. When asked if Bobroff says a particular word that sounds like an attack command, Raja is trained to the point that only with the correct nuances, will Raja treat it like a actualcommand.

“He might pick up that before I give a certain command, I may lift my lips a certain way or something like that, a cue that I’m giving subconsciously,” he said.

Raja is far beyond impressive. But who really needs a dog like this when there are plenty of conventional means of self-defense and protection?

“People come for many random reasons, stalkers, threats, and they also want them to be a family dog, and of course, there’s the dogs’ connection to Israel,” he said. Price becomes a secondary question for those focused on safety. Bobroff compares the six-figure price of a protection dog to that price of state-of-the art electronic civilian home security systems.

“The alarm doesn’t even do anything, there’s still a probably six, seven minute [law enforcement] response time,” he said. Dogs like Raja are ready to protect their protectees in an instant.

Prospective owners are put through a thorough background check, with many red flags — including if someone appears too enthusiastic about the dog’s killing power —that result in automatic disqualification.

Even when a client-dog match proceeds, as with any weapon, responsibility remains paramount. With unprecedented violence targeting the Jewish community, many are considering outside-the-box solutions to protection. Some of those come to Israel Protection K9 to see if dogs like Raja are an appropriate fit.

By the end of our walk, Bobroff said that his family has been fortunate to not have to engage Raja’s capabilities to the fullest extent.

But the very next morning, Bobroff called me to share the story of a close call the night before. He and his family were walking on a sidewalk in midtown Los Angeles when a hostile transient began following them at a close distance. The family, along with Raja, crossed the street, and the belligerent did too. Bobroff told his wife to walk ahead with the children. Raja was as ready as always. When the agitator moved closer, Bobroff warned him, “if you come any closer, my dog will attack you.”

The transient  took one look at the dog, decided it wasn’t worth it and left them alone.

 

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Israel Protection K9 clients hope their dogs are a deterrent their clients never need to deploy. Like any family dog, the majority of Raja’s time is spent being a cuddly big brother to his two young human siblings.

“Our dogs are more stable than the average dog,” Bobroff said. “Raja cuddles with my kids every single morning.” It’s a welcome daily respite for both Bobroff and Raja, especially since the threats don’t seem to be waning. Bobroff spoke with The Journal two days after the Dec. 14 Hanukkah attack that left 15 dead in Bondi Beach near Sydney, Australia. In those 48 hours, Israel Protection K9 received an uptick in calls from potential new clients.

“Since Oct. 7 and now again after the Bondi attack, Jews around the world are reassessing what real security means for their families and communities,” Bobroff said. “Beyond targeted threats, people are also factoring in everyday concerns like home invasions and break-ins. When people realize a properly-trained protection dog provides roughly a decade of dependable protection, and that a full-time human guard can easily cost over $100,000 per year, it reframes the conversation. For many families, it becomes a practical and rational security decision.”

StandWithUs marked its 24th anniversary with its annual Festival of Lights (FOL) gala on December 7, 2025, bringing together more than 850 guests at the Fairmont Century City.

Guests enjoyed a feast that included delicious latkes and sushi before making their way to the main buffet. The evening opened with a performance by stand-up comedian Elon Gold, arguably the busiest Jewish comedian in town. Gold shared hilarious anecdotes from his recent trip to Israel, joking about the abundance of stray cats and the lack of car washes. “There aren’t enough car washes,” he said. “I wrote ‘Free Palestine’ on every car just so they would wipe it down and wash the car.” He also recalled, with amusement, how difficult it is to find parking in Tel Aviv. “Once you find one, you just stay there for two months.”

Among the guests was Beverly Hills Mayor Sharona Nazarian, who took the stage to praise StandWithUs’ impact and presented co-founders Roz Rothstein, Jerry Rothstein, and Esther Renzer with a Certificate of Recognition.

This marked the beginning of a long and often emotional evening, which included a couple of special guests from Israel. Oz Davidian, a farmer from a moshav near the Nova Music Festival site, received the Guardian of Israel Award.

Roz and Jerry Rothstein and Esther Renzer, who presented the award, recalled meeting Davidian in Israel and asking what gave him the courage to repeatedly enter such a deadly scene. Davidian replied that he realized no one else was coming for those kids. With luck, faith, and sheer will, the “accidental hero” persisted and survived. The bond between Davidian and those he saved remains profound. One couple even named their newborn son Oz in his honor, and another got married after being rescued together by him. Clips from the documentary “Oz’s List,” which chronicles his extraordinary actions, were shown to the audience.

Another guest was Oran Almog  from Haifa, whose life was forever changed on October 4, 2003. Almog was 10.5 year-old when a suicide bomber detonated herself at the Maxim restaurant, killing Almog’s father, brother, grandparents and cousin, and leaving Almog blind. Nearly 22 years later, the mastermind behind that attack was released as part of a hostage deal with Hamas.

“I was shocked when the terrorist was released but I understand that keeping him, won’t bring back my loved ones,” he said. “It will however, bring other loved ones back home. Yes, it was a bad deal, but any deal with the devil is bad.”

Almog’s life since the attack stands as a testament to resilience. Faced with the choice “to survive or to live,” he chose to live fully. He learned Braille, mastered assistive technology, became a competitive sailor — winning third place in a world championship for blind sailors — volunteered and served with the IDF’s Special Forces, spoke before the UN Security Council, founded and partnered in startups, and continues to play guitar. “With strong willpower and support, one can emerge a winner,” he said.

Roz Rothstein, who is the daughter of Holocaust survivors, reflected as to why she and her co-founders, felt compelled to create the non-profit organization. “The Holocaust didn’t begin with gas chambers. It began with hateful words that became normalized and led to violence.”

She warned that those who “stand with Hamas and facilitate their treacherous strategies, are complicit in their lies – a lie repeated over and over became ‘truth.’”

Rothstein described a climate in which “hate against Israel and the Jewish people is louder, uglier, and more normalized than anything we have seen in decades,” with students bearing the brunt of it. “In the middle of this storm, our students — our children and our grandchildren — are being targeted simply for being Jewish or for supporting the Jewish state,” she said.

Carly Gammill, Director of Legal Policy and Litigation for StandWithUs Saidoff Law, detailed how the legal arm of the organization has expanded its response to antisemitic incidents that predated October 7, 2023. She described increased staffing, resources and legal training, as well as tangible results achieved through legal action on campuses, in school districts and workplaces, and through involvement in passing legislation in California.

“As long as StandWithUs exists, no student will ever face antisemitism alone,” said Gammill. “We will train them. We will empower them. And we will stand with them every step of the way.”

Each year, StandWithUs honors two student leaders with the “Star of David” Award, recognizing courage and resilience in the face of antisemitism. This year’s recipients were Aayush Keshari, a Hindu student leader at the University of Cincinnati and Sadie Gryczman, a senior at Santa Monica High School.

Keshari, who was recognized for spearheading programs that reached hundreds of students said that despite the fact he isn’t Jewish, he was targeted on campus because of his support of Jewish students. Furthermore, he said, the university didn’t do much to protect them.

Sadie convened campus-wide discussions, including bringing a Holocaust Survivor to share their story which drew 1,000 students and community members.

The evening’s keynote speaker was Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15), one of the most outspoken advocates for the U.S.-Israel relationship in Congress. In a thoughtful onstage conversation with StandWithUs board member and attorney Barak Lurie, Torres spoke candidly about his journey to becoming a staunch supporter of Israel, which he said began during his first visit to the country as a congressman. Touring the Old City, Yad Vashem and Sderot, he gained a deeper understanding of Israel’s security challenges. Reflecting on his own upbringing in a hostile neighborhood, but “the danger was guns, not rockets.”

Asked how support for Israel can remain nonpartisan in Congress, Torres rejected the notion that it is a right-left issue. “Zionism is a progressive rights movement,” he said, calling the Abraham Accords “profoundly progressive.” Israel, he added, with its freedoms and inclusion, is “the embodiment of progressive rights.”

Addressing criticism from the far left, Torres explained that his resolve comes from the words of Martin Luther King Jr.: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

He emphasized that the burden of proof lies with Israel’s detractors. Warning about the influence of groups such as Queers for Palestine and the rapid spread of misinformation on social media, Torres said October 7, exposed trends that had been building for years. Still, he asserted that Israel has emerged as the region’s superpower. “The greatest deterrence to war is strength,” he said.

The gala was co-sponsored by board members Ellie and Bruce Lederman and Debbie and Naty Saidoff, with Naty Saidoff leading the fundraising portion of the evening.

The event concluded with a performance by Idan Raichel, one of Israel’s most talented and beloved musicians.

Magen-Am security team provided their services, as they do each year.

Eli Sharabi, a 52-year-old former hostage who spent 491 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza, shared his story with a packed Sinai Temple audience on Dec. 18. It was part of a book tour Sharabi is doing for his new book, “Hostage” (HarperCollins), which just became a New York Times bestseller.

For almost an hour, Sharabi recounted vivid, haunting moments in the hours following the initial terrorist attacks at Kibbutz Be’eri, beginning at 6:29 a.m. on Oct. 7, 2023. Sharabi shared some of the most horrifying details from the moment he was abducted into Gaza.

“After about half an hour of a slow drive, we arrived at our first stop — in a mosque,” Sharabi told the crowd, many breaking their stunned silence with groans. From day one in captivity, Sharabi and his fellow hostages were shackled together, iron chains on their legs. He would remain shackled for the next 485 days. They’d go months at a time without the privilege of brushing their teeth or bathing (only a bucket of cold water and soap). The Hamas terrorists demanded that they shave all of their body hair. They were fed a diet of rice and half a pita at most once a day. They faced a looming threat of beatings every time they had to use the toilet.

Sharabi also talked about the rotating cellmates, and how he could speak Arabic with the captors. He would take on a father-figure role with his fellow captives.

“The first day we arrived at the town I was 51 years old then, and the six other hostages were between 10 and 27,” Sharabi said. “They’re all half of my age. So I understood the role I’m going to take there almost immediately.”

Rabbis Erez Sherman and Nicole Guzik of Sinai took turns asking Sharabi questions. The husband-wife duo have held joint discussions and sermons during their three years as co-senior Rabbis, but never an interview together.

“Eli asked us before we went out to begin the conversation, ‘are you excited?’” Guzik told The Journal. “And [Sherman and I] looked at each other and we thought, ‘no, we’re not excited to do this, we are honored and we think it’s incredibly important to the witnesses to his story and to the other stories of the freed human beings, the freed Jews, the freed of hostages who are willing to share their stories.’”

The couple read Sharabi’s book and came up with questions separately. They were astounded at how similar their respective lists of questions were: “describe relationships with specific captors,” “what was the role of prayer and ritual during captivity,” “tell us about normal life in Kibbutz Be’eri.”

The one time Sharabi had tears well up in his eyes was when he talked about when he thought about his wife, daughters and brother during the 491 days.

“To see him tear up, while we know that he tells these stories day after day after day,” Sherman told The Journal.  “He was also tearing up from the emotions that were coming from the audience, from the people that were around him. Afterwards he said to us, ‘so how are you?’ How am I? Imagine what he was like, all alone with those kids in the tunnels.”

For the duration of the 16 months in captivity, Sharabi didn’t know who from his family and kibbutz was even alive.

One of the 2,000 attendees at Sinai that night, Lauren Rosenthal, came all the way from Irvine to see Sharabi. Since Oct. 7, 2023 Rosenthal and her friends had been “in a constant state of anxiety” for the return of the hostages, all the way through the release of the last living hostages on Oct. 13, 2025. On the night of Sharabi’s release, Feb. 8, 2025, Rosenthal and her friends stayed up all night awaiting to see which hostages would be returning. They were shocked at Sharabi’s condition, and heartbroken about how he would soon find out his loved ones’ fate.

“I remember he walked into the hospital wrapped in an Israeli flag, but then only in seeing him there with his mom and his sister,” Rosenthal told The Journal. “Of course he had his mom and his sister, but us watching this live on TV, we knew everyone else that had died that Eli thought would be there waiting for him.”

There was a collective amazement among the attendees, that Sharabi, the emaciated man who upon his release was only 94 lbs. (down from 154 lbs. when abducted by Hamas), but is now suited up, a New York Times Bestselling author and speaking to a congregation on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Another sentiment felt at the event was that Sharabi’s miracle survival story was being shared on night four of Hanukkah. Before speaking, Sharabi lit the fourth candle on the five-foot tall menorah on the bimah.

“Eli Sharabi is an inspiration and a light whose presence elevates the world around him,” fine art photographer and photojournalist Debbie Banafsheha told The Journal. “To have met Eli on Hanukkah, a celebration of light and miracles, feels profoundly meaningful, truly a moment I will never forget.”

The event was also a fundraiser for Ma’agalim, an Israel-based nonprofit that offers mentorship and support for at-risk and disadvantaged Israeli youth.

“Eli is here as an ambassador of the Jewish people to the world,” Ma’agalim founder and CEO Assaf Weiss told The Journal. “Hamas didn’t take Eli from his house because he was Eli Sharabi, the person, they took him because he was a Jewish man.”

Since Oct. 7, the need for supporting traumatized and unstable youth around Israel “has only deepened,” Samuel Franco, executive director of American Friends of Ma’agalim said in his remarks before introducing Sharabi. “All of Israel has been affected, but this population has been affected even more. We have a long waiting list of schools across Israel waiting for us to hire and train more mentors, waiting for us to reach teens, crying out for the stability and guidance they need.”

Ma’agalim’s mission reassured the crowd that their efforts from afar matter so much to individual Israelis who are struggling. Sharabi concluded the night commending Diaspora support for hostages coming home and showing solidarity with the people of Israel.

“To see their solidarity with the Israeli state and with Israelis, it’s very moving. You almost can’t understand that people hold your photos thousands of miles away from Israel and are praying for you and for your release. It’s amazing. So I’m grateful. I’m grateful for you people.” – Eli Sharabi

“So many people stopped their lives to support my family,” Sharabi said. “Then I found about the hundreds of thousands of Israelis that went out to the streets — marching and praying for us — people that you never knew and they cared for me and supported my family. It was amazing to understand all this. Then I started to go abroad to speak to prime ministers and parliament members and presidents and dozens of Jewish communities, loads and loads of Jewish people. To see their solidarity with the Israeli state and with Israelis, it’s very moving. You almost can’t understand that people hold your photos thousands of miles away from Israel and are praying for you and for your release. It’s amazing. So I’m grateful. I’m grateful for you people. Because of that, I’m waking up every morning and choosing life because I don’t have the privilege to stay in bed and cry all day — because of this love.”