Tackling antisemitism in Southern California

While walking down Ventura Boulevard on July 10, Lauren Scharf noticed she was being followed. She said a man, who she suspected was mentally ill, hurled epithets at her: “You’re the most nastiest f—ing lady. Please tell me you’re not Jewish. You better not be f—ing Jewish.”

Scharf recorded the attack on her phone then posted it on Twitter, where she wrote: “It’s deeply upsetting how easily he singled me out like this based only on looks. This was in Sherman Oaks, no less, a neighborhood with a pretty big Jewish population. I’ve heard comments similar to this in various places but never so direct and so ongoing and in broad daylight on a crowded street. This guy wasn’t worried about being caught or even overheard.”

Scharf’s encounter is just one of myriad antisemitic verbal assaults and physical attacks that have placed Jewish communities locally, nationally and around the globe on high alert, particularly in the wake of the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas in May.

Joanna Mendelson, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Center for Extremism, told SCJN, “Anecdotally, we have many examples [of antisemitic attacks] and unfortunately social networking feeds have been lit up with these examples but the ADL has tried to measure some of this.” 

While the ADL still cites 2019 as having the highest number of antisemitic incidents on record, from May 2020 to May 2021 — after the start of the Mideast violence — Mendelson said antisemitic attacks in the country more than doubled, up 115% from the previous May. During that period, the ADL documented a total of 250 incidents around the country: 190 were categorized as harassment; 50 acts of vandalism; and numerous acts of brutal violence in broad daylight. And 40% of American Jews said they were more concerned about their personal safety after the latest round of hostilities between Israel and Hamas. 

“Our job is to shine a very bright light on all that we are uncovering. We are operating from the notion that sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
— ADL Associate Director, Center for Extremism, Joanna Mendelson

Locally, there have been several incidents in which Jewish establishments were targeted in the wake of the latest Mideast conflict, including a hate-fueled attack on Jewish diners at the kosher Sushi Fumi restaurant in Los Angeles, concrete slabs being hurled through the windows of Young Israel of Century City synagogue in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood, and a paintball attack on two Jewish boys on Shabbat in Hancock Park. Mendelson said that a synagogue in Huntington Beach received hate mail stating: “Die you Jew cockroaches. Israel equals apartheid.”

On June 22, kosher restaurant PSY on Pico was broken into. As owner Gal Ben Joya told SCJN, “Luckily, the break-in was not determined antisemitic. No vandalism occurred. [They] took the cash register and left.” At the time, however, many in the Jewish community feared it was yet another targeted attack.

This uptick has prompted local Jewish officials to speak out. Los Angeles 5th District Councilmember Paul Koretz and City Controller Ron Galperin are children of Holocaust survivors. Koretz said, “I was absolutely appalled and furious when I began witnessing incidents of Jews being targeted and attacked simply for being Jewish.”

And in the wake of the Sushi Fumi incident, he said, “I immediately went to the scene and did everything within my power to make sure that the perpetrators were caught, prosecuted and punished for those offenses. Throughout my more than three decades as a public servant from councilmember and mayor of West Hollywood to California State Assembly member, I have stood publicly, consistently, unwaveringly to act against antisemitism and Israel’s haters multiple times.” 

Galperin said, “It’s very distressing and very concerning to witness the uptick that we have in antisemitism. I’m, of course, concerned about attacks and about discrimination and about hatred against any group.”

Councilmember Bob Blumenfield of L.A.’s 3rd District, whose grandmother narrowly escaped pogroms in Russia (although her brother didn’t), said his work is also very much informed by his family’s experience with antisemitism. “I used to be on the ADL [national and executive] boards and I chaired the Valley board. “There are white supremacists and other hate groups that are active all across the city and in my district, in the West Valley.”

He noted that although the news media report the more high-profile incidents, there are many less-prominent ones. “You don’t hear about what I hear about, which is the swastikas being cleaned up by the city and the calls about them. Then we immediately dispatch graffiti abatement teams.” 

“These incidents affect me very deeply as both a Jewish person and a Jewish leader,” said Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer. “I grew up in San Bernardino. There were very few Jewish kids around. When the Six-Day War broke out, I was in third grade and my teacher turned to the class and said, ‘Mike, would you please explain the Jewish perspective on the [war] to the class?’ ” 

As both a lawyer for the city and a city official, Feuer said, “It has been very important to me to be present and deeply engaged in not only standing up for the Jewish community at a time of great turbulence, but also collaborating with other communities throughout Los Angeles, so that we stand together as one city.” 

However, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and director of Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said, “There’s a lack of political leadership in this city, which shows absolutely no concern for the Jewish community here. Mayor [Eric Garcetti] never deigned to go and visit the businesses that were attacked by the Black Lives Matter” movement in the summer of 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. 

Garcetti, who recently was nominated by President Joe Biden to be ambassador to India, did not respond to SCJN’s requests for comment.

Left and right

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) told SCJN, “An attack on one of us is an attack on us all. This is occurring in conjunction with an alarming rise of white supremist xenophobia nationwide. Hate must have no harbor anywhere in the United States — and certainly not in diverse, vibrant Southern California.”

A look at the ADL Hate, Extremism, Antisemitism and Terrorism (H.E.A.T.) map, which details such incidents by state and nationwide, reveals that white supremacists are very much a dangerous force in the country, but there also is an increase in attacks from the left, too. 

“It’s one thing when we see it from the fringe,” Mendelson said, “but when we also see it among those who promote ostensibly progressive issues, as well as other bigots, it’s alarming. It bleeds into the full continuum,” she said, noting that from May 7-14, the ADL uncovered 17,000 antisemitic tweets linked to the Mideast conflict. 

“Hate must have no harbor anywhere in the United States — and certainly not in diverse, vibrant Southern California.”
— Rep. Adam Schiff

“Unfortunately negative views of Israel and of Jews are not exclusive to one political party or one particular political ideology,” Galperin said. “In some cases, unfortunately, it seems to be one of the few areas where those on the far right and the far left can agree.”

“Antisemitism is coming from the right and the left and each one is insidious,” added Rabbi Paul Kipnes of Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas. “When the right and the left agree upon something — and, as usual, it’s their hatred of the Jews — we are all in trouble.”

Although there have been attacks on those who are easily identifiable, whether it’s on people wearing kippot or tzitzit, or attacks on synagogues, Cooper said, “Many people who are not necessarily identified as religious [but who are] proud Jews, are finding their kids are being bullied in school, or the (teachers) union is getting involved in calling Israel ‘genociders.’ Many liberals suddenly are being confronted with accusations that they either have to choose between being accepted by these special interests groups or being marginalized — not by anything they did or said — but by virtue of the fact that they’re Jews.”

“Antisemitism is coming from the right and the left and each one is insidious. When the right and the left agree upon something — and, as usual, it’s their hatred of the Jews — we are all in trouble.”
— Rabbi Paul Kipnes

Those union issues have played out in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). On July 13, the LAUSD board unanimously passed a resolution denouncing antisemitism and anti-Jewish rhetoric. The resolution came on the heels of the district’s United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union’s June decision to vote in September on a resolution calling on teachers to support Palestinians and for the U.S. government to end all aid to Israel. 

Justin Feldman graduated from UCLA in 2020 with a degree in political science and Middle Eastern studies. He served as the only Jewish student on UCLA’s Equity, Diversity & Inclusion student advisory board and today is the national activism manager for the Israeli-American Council’s (IAC) college program, Mishelanu. He told SCJN, “I want to emphasize the concern of LAUSD politicizing my existence and the existence of nearly half of world Jewry, who live in refuge in Israel.” 

He called the resolution “an alarming sign of how pervasive antisemitism is becoming in our educational system. UTLA is the second-largest teacher’s union in America. We have to be steadfast and proactive as students, graduates and educators to repel antisemitic and polarizing lies with expansive truths and materials that strengthen understanding of Jewish ethnic ties.”

Safety and security

The Los Angeles-area Jewish community has always been security-conscious. In 2012, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles launched its Community Security Initiative (CSI) program, which serves as the central point of contact for what it calls “critical incident coordination, information and intelligence sharing, safety and security training, and resources for Jewish institutions across L.A.”

However, in response to the latest uptick in antisemitic incidents, on June 23, the Federation launched its Personnel Resiliency Training (PRT) Guard Force program through its CSI initiative — a free online learning program for security guards working on Jewish grounds. The certification, invitation-only program was designed because, “Generally, these guards are not familiar with the Jewish community and this is a major disadvantage in doing their jobs well,” said Ivan Wolkind, chief financial and operating officer, and head of the CSI program.

Rabbi Elazar Muskin of Young Israel of Century City said in the wake of the attack on his synagogue that not only do “we have an excellent group of guards protecting the shul,” the synagogue also is very involved with CSI. 

Koretz’s office also works with CSI and also is “heavily engaged with law enforcement and we work arm-in-arm with our counterparts,” he said. “I am one of the only councilmembers with an experienced public safety director.”

And the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance has to date trained 160,000 law enforcement officers as part of its Tools for Tolerance program. “We’re absolutely committed to reform and better policing,” Cooper said. 

Feuer concurred. “One role I play is to prosecute hate crimes. LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) refers matters to our office and then our office evaluates them to determine whether there is a criminal case to be had. Sometimes that involves collaboration with the Museum of Tolerance, when we recognize that matters can be best dealt with through anti-bias education programming, for instance.”

“It’s a very fine line to be vigilant, to be alert, to be aware and to be prepared, but not to fall prey to fear and paranoia,” Mendelson said, noting that the Federation’s PRT programming “is all encompassing and has some cultural competency” by focusing on “How do you understand the community you’re trying to protect?”

Combating campus hate 

Jason Moss, executive director of the Jewish Federation of the San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys, which serves 30,000 to 45,000 Jews in the area and is home to eight synagogues and five Chabads, said to date, the attacks by and large haven’t filtered into his community, “at least not that I’m aware of,” he stipulated. However, he said it is definitely a problem on the areas’ Claremont Colleges campuses. “Our [Federation] efforts and support are needed because of the anti-Israel sentiment on those campuses.” 

SCJN could find no current Jewish college students who would speak on the record about their on-campus experiences with antisemitism. Israel educational organization StandWithUs’ Emerson campus fellows in Southern California initially agreed to be interviewed but then declined through StandWithUs’ PR rep, who stated, “Unfortunately, some … folks are hesitant about more media exposure. It was a tough year with another coming.” 

Kipnes said he had been checking in with college students and several told him “how heinous the social media has become and how difficult things are becoming on college campuses from both the left and the right.” 

In an effort to help students navigate these issues, Kipnes held a pop-up evening shortly after the Israel-Hamas conflict in May, to enable students to talk about their concerns, provide them with information and connect them with organizations to get support regarding the conflict. He also hosted an evening with Steven Windmueller, professor emeritus at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, to talk about antisemitism to students. 

“The best organization that’s fighting against BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement, and separating appropriate critique of Israel — anti-Zionism from antisemitism — is J Street U,” he said. “I’m an AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) member, but J Street is the one doing the work on colleges campuses in the best way.”

David Myers, the Kahn professor of Jewish History at UCLA, told SCJN, “I feel a particular commitment to checking in with Jewish students to gauge campus climate and monitor antisemitism. The general thrust of what I’ve been hearing over the last few years is that campus debate around Israel-Palestine is impassioned and often contentious. At times it does spark antisemitic expressions or sentiments (along the lines that Jews have too much power or are equivalent to the Israeli government). But what I hear, for the most part, is that the campus feels safe for most Jews, who can express themselves openly and in diverse ways.”  

And Dave Cohn, executive director of USC Hillel, said he’s spoken with several students who have experienced antisemitism in recent months. Although the nature of these incidents is private, he made sure they were addressed by the university.

“I believe vigilance against antisemitism is essential as part of our work building strong Jewish communities on campus,” he said. “Our greatest strength is our ability to have any student feel comfortable approaching us with their concerns.”

Rabbi Daniel Levine, assistant director and senior Jewish educator at Hillel Foundation of Orange County, said students at Chapman University have been attacked for their Jewish identities and connection to Israel, among other things. “Perhaps the most disheartening thing is that people have no conception of separating Zionism and connection to Israel — from specific Israeli policy. I am very proud of the fact that our Hillel is giving students the tools and knowledge to deal with [antisemitism], rather than waiting until something happens.”

Anti-Zionism and antisemitism

It’s not just students who have to wade through the murky waters of antisemitism couched as anti-Zionism. “[People] are making Zionism into a dirty word and Israel as a pariah state,” Cooper said. “We’re definitely at a tipping point. There’s a changing of the goal posts.”

Not so long ago, Cooper said people were talking about settlements and where to move the U.S. embassy in Israel. “But the Hamas rockets [in May] weren’t aimed at settlements. They were sent to Israel proper; with recognized international borders. So it’s the Hamas talking points that we’re now confronted with.”

“It’s one thing if you’re going to criticize the government of Israel; the tactics and policies,” Mendelson said, “but what we found was that very quickly the types of criticism and the types of, quote ‘activism,’ devolves into calls for senseless hate and encouragement of genocide.”

“[People] are making Zionism into a dirty word and Israel as a pariah state. We’re definitely at a tipping point. There’s a changing of the goal posts.”
— Simon Wiesenthal Center Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper

Kipnes said he sees the growing identification of some on the left with the Palestinians as “an opening for those who wanted to spew hatred not just of Israel but of Jews in general. You see the parallel hatred coming out of all things Jewish, disguised first as anti-Zionism, and vaunting into just pure Jew hatred. I feel like I have to explain the history of the conflict. I have to call out Israel for its transgressions. I have to call out the left for its tolerance of Jew hatred. And I have to call out the right for its tolerance of white supremacy that plays out in Jew hatred also.” He said he sees the organization Zioness as a way to show how Jews can be both progressive and Zionists. 

Said Galperin, “As we all know, antisemitism existed long before the state of Israel existed. In many ways, Israel is just a convenient excuse for many who harbor antisemitic views. And, that’s not to say that every opposition that every person has to the policies of the state of Israel, equals antisemitism. But, when you have the kinds of extremist rhetoric against the very existence of the state of Israel and seeking to paint Israel as engaging in ethnic cleansing and comparing Israel to Nazis and to apartheid, this rises to the level of antisemitism and Jew hatred.”

“Unfortunately, dealing with the Israel-Palestinian issue, a lot of folks characterize Israel on this issue as the Goliath, and there’s a tendency to sympathize with the David,” Blumenfield said. “And so you see a lot of folks see the news and understandably everyone is outraged by folks who are being killed, and a lot of what they see are the civilians being killed on the Palestinian side.”

But, he added, “They don’t talk about the targeting of Israel, the 4,000 rockets, and there’s an unrealistic expectation on Israel to just take it and that contributes to the narrative.”

Blumenfield also emphasized that he’s not a “fan of [immediate past Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, but it’s hard for some folks to see, see the difference between [his] administration and Israel as a country. And that’s a real problem.”

Myers, however, said although the latest conflict “can be an occasion for people with antisemitism in their hearts to come out of the woodwork and make gross declarations about the alleged omnipotence of Jews or the indistinguishability of Jews and Israel or of all Israelis and the government’s policies,” it’s important to not generalize “that all who regard Israeli government policy as racist or, for that matter, define themselves as anti-Zionist. are antisemitic. Some may well be. But not all.” Rather, he said, “I have Palestinian American students who have relatives in the West Bank who are subject to the daily indignities and injustices of the occupation. They regard it as racist. And yet, these students — the ones I am thinking of — have no hatred in their hearts for Jews whatsoever.

“[It] is also an important moment to take stock of and advocate for the long-deferred aspirations of the Palestinian people to live in dignity. Ultimately, that is not only good for Palestinians. It is good, indeed essential, for Israel.”

 “I very much want to see the Palestinians be able to realize their hopes and their dreams and their aspirations,” Galperin said. “I fervently hope for peace. But to condemn one party and one country among so many others around the world is both irresponsible and just downright wrong.”

Cooper said it is not “our responsibility or job [as American Jews] to co-opt what needs to take place with Jews and their Arab neighbors in the Holy Land. There’s a political dispute and they need to sit down and figure it out.

“I very much want to see the Palestinians be able to realize their hopes and their dreams and their aspirations. I fervently hope for peace. But to condemn one party and one country among so many others around the world is both irresponsible and just downright wrong.”
— Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin

“We should always have our ears and hearts open for those who want to see a better life for the Palestinians, but the reason for a Jewish state and homeland goes back over 3,000 years. And we don’t have to apologize for that.” 

Social media, COVID-19 and Trump

As the rise in in-person and verbal antisemitic attacks has grown, so too has online hate. The ADL documented the alarming rise of antisemitism online in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict and “it wasn’t just in the spaces that are the tried-and-true lion’s den for hate,” Mendelson said, “Gab, 4chan and Telegram, but in mainstream platforms on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram. These messages are prominent tropes about Jewish control and demonizing all Jews.”

Cooper believes much of this stems from the COVID-19 lockdown, “where everyone was forced online,” while Feuer and others believe this was building for several years, and particularly against the backdrop of the former Trump administration. 

“I think that [President Donald] Trump unleashed and normalized what was beneath the surface and not acceptable and made it so,” Feuer said. “Across the board with lots of hate. People felt licensed to do so because they saw that exemplified and sanctioned by the top leaders.” That, he said, has had a “tremendously corrosive effect that is going to take a long time for us to recuperate from. I think that the antisemitism that has been expressed recently existed five years ago, or seven or eight years ago, but it was not being expressed to the degree that it has been expressed in the last two years.”

“I think that [President Donald] Trump unleashed and normalized what was beneath the surface and not acceptable and made it so. Across the board with lots of hate. People felt licensed to do so because they saw that exemplified and sanctioned by the top leaders.”
— Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer

Moss said he also sees a direct correlation with the former president. “Just [Trump’s] willingness to speak ill of others with no sense of remorse for any type of community obligation or for understanding that there is a collective, rather than people’s personal wants and needs.”

Standing with others

In order to combat antisemitism, part of the answer must lie in cooperation with our neighbors, Feuer said. “I believe very deeply that we need to support each other so that when there was hate targeting the Muslim American community, I spoke in mosques and Islamic centers. When there was hate targeting the Asian American communities of the city, I spoke at multiple events. And I stood in the wake of the [Sushi Fumi] attack on the steps of City Hall with [people] from the Muslim American, Asian American, African American and Latino communities. I think that there is a real civic infrastructure here that matters when it comes to kind of teaming up on these issues.”

“We absolutely must engage with our neighbors, and members of the clergy are our first natural stop to figure out who is running the church or mosque or Sikh temple or the shul down the block,” Cooper said, “to find out what they stand for, what their values are, and can we work with them?”

“There are spiritual heroes who stand with us from outside the Jewish community just as I stand up against hate against the Black community, the AAPI community or the LGBTQIA community,” Koretz said. “There are many whom I know that I can depend upon to join me in this spiritual and ethical crisis of humanity.”

And then there are the organizations that are actively working with interfaith groups, including the Holocaust Museum of Los Angeles (HMLA). Vice President of Education and Exhibits Jordanna Gessler told SCJN the museum recently implemented changes and additions to the script of student tours that address white nationalism and the growing number of hate crimes, and continues to work with Jewish and non-Jewish groups using Holocaust education as a way to fight bigotry and antisemitism.

“By bringing [together] different groups, we are reinforcing a rich, diverse community that is more likely to speak up,” Gessler said. “Our programs foster empathy and engage people in … how we can work together to build a world of dignity and mutual respect.”

“We have to do a better job communicating our concerns to our neighbors,” Cooper said, noting that because of COVID lockdown protocols, the new Museum of Tolerance (which recently underwent a $10 million upgrade), had to halt its programs. “It was a key public space where people of different persuasions came together in dialogue. As soon as we can under COVID rules, we hope to continue in that role within the broader community.” 

At NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change, Associate Director Andrea Hodos said her last few months have been filled with conversations about navigating the impact of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim hate and bias. During an online panel with Israeli and Palestinian practitioners of shared society during the May conflict, Hodos said Huda Abuarquob of Alliance for Middle East Peace spoke “very clearly against antisemitic acts because they are dangerous for Jews, and they also make the situation worse for Palestinians.” 

Hodos said she works with “Muslims who are trying to hold themselves and their communities accountable around issues of antisemitism.” She added, “It is not easy to find people who are able and willing to engage across the polarization, but they are out there. At times, we imagine one another in totalizing ways without being able to differentiate one another’s communities. When we do this, there is no room for the curiosity and compassion that allows us to move beyond a place where our identities and our safety are seen as zero-sum.”

Moving forward

Where does the Jewish community go from here? How does it safely navigate the very real threats on its doorstep? 

In his community, Moss said, “I’m reminding everyone to be on the lookout. It’s not just antisemitism on the rise, it’s hate of all kinds, and we need to stand up with others when we see hate of any kind. At the same time, we need to ask our non- Jewish friends to stand up when there is any form of hate being perpetrated in our community. The more we have people calling it out, the greater the chance of having it minimized.”

It’s also crucial, Feuer said, to report hate crimes. “People feel shame reporting that they’ve been victimized, or fear no one’s going to listen to them or that they’ll be traumatized in court. I want to make sure that the community knows that we’re here for them. We will listen. We will stand up for you.” 

“Our enemies don’t care whether we wear a kippah, or [about] our sexual identity. If you’re a Jew, you’re a target,” Cooper said. “You’re in their crosshairs. We have to find that commonality of purpose — caring for other members of our family, which is the Jewish way, and when we find that, we’ll find a lot of these threats are going to melt away.”

“Everyone is impacted by hatred and intolerance,” Koretz said. “Today it might be the Jews. Who will it be tomorrow? It is up to all of us, especially me as an elected official, to make our community a safe place for everyone. Finally, we battle hate by enlightenment. We reach enlightenment through education.” Education programs Koretz is involved in include those with the ADL, the Museum of Tolerance and the Federation.   

Liz Vogel, executive director of Facing History and Ourselves, an international educational and professional development nonprofit, also is an advocate for education, particularly through the organization’s foundational materials. “We believe the teaching of any historical or current event, especially one where lives are lost, must be done through careful consideration and preparation. The complexity of this conflict demands thoughtful, fact-based historical inquiry and nuanced ethical reflection.” 

Levine also advocates an educational stance, stating it’s the “best way to secure a connection to Jewish tradition, ideas, practices and Israel. When people are knowledgeable, they can both feel more comfortable expressing themselves in public and responding to outside attacks from either side of the political spectrum.”

At the end of the day, “part of what we need from the community,” Mendelson said, “is for them to be calm but also to inform. To continue to be engaged. To identify and speak out, so we can address it. [The ADL’s] job is to shine a very bright light on all that we are uncovering. We are operating from the notion that sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

And although Mendelson said this is not a time to be complacent or jaded, there is this underbelly in the country, that “if we step back and talk about things in America today — as Jews — in terms of freedom and the democracy we have in play, to be Jewish in America today is really a positive thing, and we must remember that.”

 

Esther D. Kustanowitz contributed to this report.