A man can be seen shouting antisemitic slurs to a handful of men in front of a kosher restaurant in Encino in a video that has gone viral on social media; a suspect has since been arrested.
In the video, the man confronts another man on the phone and says, “I came to ask you a question about why this s— is painted the way it is because it was stolen off my shirt when I walked by here. You understand that, you stupid Jew?” He then accuses him of “stealing money from everybody.” A larger man then confronts him, prompting the perpetrator to call the larger man an “immigrant f—” and to “go back to your country.” The man then pulls something out of his car, puts it back in and before driving away shouts, “Jew f—” and “I lost my virginity to a Jewish b—- and I was underage. Welcome to my country. Keep your mouth shut because you have a dumb accent.”
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“You stupid Jew … stealing money from everybody” – antisemite verbally attacks Jews outside a kosher Burger eatery in Encino, CA pic.twitter.com/6TljwjUNns
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) June 22, 2023
Yehuda Benschitrit, who took the video, told the Journal that he and his two business partners at a water damage company were parking to shop next door on Wednesday and the owner of Melrose Burger N’ Fries parked at the same time; they noticed the man was yelling at them. “We just see this guy yelling … and as soon as we looked, the guy was staring at us, he sees us staring at him and he’s like, ‘What you looking at? What you looking at?’ and trying to get all in our faces,” Benschitrit said. That’s when Benschitrit started filming. “He was just yelling antisemitic slurs, just yelling,” Benschitrit said. “I wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying in the moment, I was just making sure that nothing was going to escalate. But the owner did tell us that this guy was there the night before, saying stuff to the owner as well. And when we parked, he was just there.”
When the man pulled something out of his car, Benschitrit tried “to run back into the next store because I didn’t know what he was pulling out.” What he pulled out was “a confetti cannon” that “shoots confetti with a loud noise,” Benschitrit said.
The owner of Melrose Burger N’ Fries––the man on the phone––was calling the cops at that time, Benschtrit said. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) told the Journal that they arrested the suspect, who the LAPD identified as Simi Valley resident Roy Azimi, on charges of criminal threats.
“The scene depicted in that video is egregious,” Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles Regional Director Jeffrey I. Abrams said in a statement to the Journal. “We are appalled by this blatant antisemitic hate incident but grateful for the swift action of the Los Angeles Police Department in taking the alleged perpetrator into custody.”
Melrose Burger N’ Fries posted to Instagram, “We know this incident is not an isolated one. Hate crimes are on the rise in our country, and we are all feeling the effects. But we are also inspired by the outpouring of support we have received. Your messages of love, solidarity, and strength have given us the courage to move forward. We know that we are not alone, and that together, we can make a difference.”
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