Photo Credit: Google Maps / Google
Young Israel of Century City in Los Angeles, Dec. 2020.

A Los Angeles synagogue in Century City was targeted just before the weekend by an unidentified man hurling a slab of concrete at the windows.

The attack, which took place at around 1 am Friday, was viewed on security camera footage that was released to local media by the Young Israel of Century City synagogue on Pico Boulevard.

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The attacker’s first throw ended with the concrete slab bouncing off the synagogue window and landing on the sidewalk. A second attempt ended the same way – and convinced the attacker it was better to leave.

The reason the concrete projectile could not penetrate the building has to do with the material used for the windows, which are made of shatter-proof glass.

The attack did little to scare congregants away.

Later in the day on Friday, Rabbi Elazar Muskin, who leads the Orthodox synagogue, told reporters at a news conference, “There’s no place in our society — and this country created and built on principles of freedom of religion – for such acts of vandalism and hate.”

But it didn’t stop there, because police suspect the same antisemitic attacker also targeted Pat’s Restaurant – a nearby kosher steakhouse – with a concrete slab.

In this attack he was more successful and the restaurant window was shattered in the attack.

No arrests have yet been made in the two attacks.

Also in Los Angeles, a gang of pro-Palestinian hoodlums riding in a caravan that flew Palestinian Authority flags last week targeted a sushi restaurant in the Beverly Grove section of the city. The gang chanted “Death to Jews” and “Free Palestine” and then demanded to know from those dining outside whether there were Jews there.

Pro-Palestinian Thugs Hunt for Jews, Then Beat Them Up in Los Angeles

Several of the men in the caravan got out of their vehicles and attacked and beat up two men at the restaurant who said they were Jews.

One day earlier, several vehicles flying Palestinian Authority flags chased an Orthodox-appearing man in the Fairfax section, at Rosewood and LaBrea Avenues. A portion of the attack was caught on security cameras. The man who was being chased managed to escape his pursuers.

Since the attack at the restaurant, two men have been arrested in connection with the May 18 assault, which took place just a couple of miles away from Young Israel of Century City.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, founding dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, noted the rise of antisemitism in America. “Antisemitism has now become America’s greatest hate pandemic and we terribly need to find a vaccine that really reflects America’s human dignity,” Hier said in a statement.

An Antisemitic Hate Wave Grows in Los Angeles

The not-so-recent rash of antisemitic attacks on Jews is continuing its upward trend across the United States. Although this latest series of attacks seems to have been triggered by Israel’s Operation Guardian of the Walls military campaign against the Hamas terrorists in Gaza, similar such attacks – and some even worse – have plagued the country before.

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Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.