The small business owners and other civilians are entirely out of luck after suffering millions in losses and untold amounts of mental trauma at the hands of the rioting BLM mobs.

By Daniel Greenfield, FrontPage Magazine

Between May and June 2020, heroic PPD police officers, outnumbered, outmatched and with no support from local officials, battled the violent hateful BLM mobs rampaging through West Philly.

The racist mobs looted small businesses in the mostly black area, destroying lives and livelihoods, while assaulting police officers and anyone who tried to get in their way. Buildings were set on fire and mobs shrieking “Black Lives Matter” and other racist slogans hurled rocks, bricks and Molotov cocktails at officers who were risking their lives to stop the violence.

Some local residents who had enough also defied the rioting mobs and joined with a community group known as, “Take Back the Streets” to line up and stand in the way of the rioters.

“Shattered windows, burned clothes, businesses destroyed,” the Philadelphia Inquirer headlined its coverage of the aftermath. “In Philadelphia, residents couldn’t find the words and simply shook their heads as they stepped over piles of ash and peered into shattered windows.”

“‘I can’t stop walking or I’ll start crying,’ a woman told her daughter as they stepped over a scorched mannequin.”

The rioters had left behind graffiti taking credit for the attack and referencing the slogans of the BLM hate group, including, “I can’t breathe” and “Justice 4 Floyd” referring to George Floyd, a career criminal who had robbed a woman at gunpoint and whose drug overdose death while being restrained by police had been used to justify the latest round of race riots.

Now the payoff is coming, not for the small business owners, but for the rioting mobs.

New York City offered a record $6 million payout to “F___ the Police” protesters because while restraining them the NYPD officers “frequently failed to wear masks”, now Philly is offering another record $9.25 million payoff to the racist mobs in West Philly. Not to their victims.

“We hope this settlement will provide some healing from the harm experienced by people in their neighborhoods in West Philadelphia,” Mayor Jim Kenney, who has presided over record crime rates, said of the $9 million payoff snatched from the mouths of hungry children.

In 2014, the year before Kenney was elected, there were 248 murders in Philadelphia. In 2022, that number had more than doubled to 516. This year there have already been 92. In 2020, the year of the BLM pro-crime riots, murders shot up from 353 to 499. In 2021, they hit 562: the worst numbers in Philly history. That’s what real “harm” in West Philly looks like.

This $9 million payoff is based in part on a complaint that while police officers were ducking bricks and Molotov cocktails, they fired off tear gas which caused “difficulty breathing” and “mental trauma”.

The officers hit with bricks and explosive devices don’t get to sue for their “mental trauma.” And the small business owners and other civilians are entirely out of luck after suffering millions in losses and untold amounts of mental trauma at the hands of the rioting BLM mobs.

Nor do the more than 30 officers injured in the subsequent riots after they were banned from using rubber bullets and tear gas against the racist mobs trying to kill them. That included the 56-year-old female police sergeant hit by a black pickup truck leaving her with a broken leg.

Philly Democrats made it clear early on that there would be no justice after the riots. Soros DA Larry Krasner, whose pro-crime policies have been blamed for much of the city’s crime wave, announced that he would avoid prosecuting 80% of those arrested. Instead, they’d be routed through a pro-crime ‘restorative justice’ model in which the criminal offers some sort of apology and promises not to do it again. The rioters would then be referred to “education and job opportunities” before conveniently having their records expunged so they can do it again.

It was ultimately up to the feds to provide some accountability, indicting rioters like Derrick Weatherbe who filled shopping carts with looted goods before streaming himself trying to set the store on fire with a stolen lighter, doing the job that Krasner and Philly Dems refused to do.

The head of the Asian American Chamber of Commerce had protested that minority businesses targeted by the racist mobs felt abandoned. “There is no assurance from the city of protecting them. They seem to be more concerned with protecting the offenders.”

Now Philly isn’t just protecting them, it’s paying them.

$9.2 million divided evenly among 300 plaintiffs would amount to $30,000 a head. Meanwhile, small businesses which suffered hundreds of thousands worth of damages, often got nothing.

Philly Democrats are paying their base to riot.

‘I go in and out of wanting to cry again’

In the aftermath, one store owner described how, “the parts of the floor that weren’t covered in glass and tossed clothing were flooded. Demonstrators had tried to light three fires inside the store.”

“I cried on the way down and tried to get it out then. And I go in and out of wanting to cry again.”

The message to police and business owners is that Philly Democrats will stand with the rioters, not with them.

“The Philadelphia Police Department did not simply harm and terrorize individual people exercising their right to protest,”  Rachel Kleinman of the Legal Defense Fund, claimed. “It inflicted wanton violence and devastated a predominately Black community.”

The violence was inflicted by protesters on police.

As Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier, who is black and and an opponent of the police, wrote during the riots, “At first things appeared calm, but it quickly turned into a standoff, with protesters throwing bricks and other objects in the direction of the police. As protesters became more aggressive, police ratcheted up their aggression and intimidation”.

The fact is that the violence did not begin with the police. And the police heroically tried to get it under control. Instead of paying the cops, police-defunding Democrats are paying the rioters.

The New York City and Philly payoffs are part of a larger pattern of state-sponsored BLM violence. Wounded police officers and civilians have tried to sue BLM organizations and chapters in vain, but it may be time for them to sue the governments that have promoted, enabled and funded the race riots that took lives, wrecked neighborhoods and killed hope.

BLM has functioned as the contemporary equivalent of the KKK. Both BLM and the KKK were covert arms of local Democrat governments which used the violence to intimidate political opponents. Municipal governments have promoted BLM, undermined law enforcement efforts to stop the racist violence and offer record payoffs knowing that this will inspire future riots.

It’s time for the small businesses devastated by government-backed riots to sue cities like Philly. The riots won’t end until BLM’s state sponsors are held accountable for their crimes.

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Opposition to proposed judicial reform is being reduced to senseless calls for “disruption” instead of debate.

By Douglas Altabef, JNS

In the summer of 2020 Israelis, along with most of the world, watched with shock and horror as riots erupted across the United States following the death of George Floyd. Masked protesters burned shops, destroyed government buildings and, most chillingly, destroyed manifestations of national memory and history by pulling down statues of “dead white men.”

The sense of anarchy running amok was chilling, as was the unwillingness to confront it. These were scenes of entitlement and a complete disdain for the rule of law.

Fast forward two-and-a-half years, and there are increasing signs that something like that kind of “rules be damned” violence could be coming to Israel.

If it’s up to the likes of former Meretz MK and one-time IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan, that is what we are likely to face.

Golan, who infamously likened Israel’s behavior to the Nazis in a Holocaust Remembrance Day address, has thrown down the gauntlet before the reality that there is a new government in Israel.

A month ago, Golan advocated protests in a manner that implicitly contained the threat of violence: “The people should express their protest and if we need to create a significant disruption in lifestyles to explain that things are not going our way, we will do it. There are enough good and dedicated citizens here who want rule of law.”

This is an Orwellian statement. The claim that a “significant disruption in lifestyles” reflects an aspiration for the “rule of law” is classic doublespeak.

Golan has since doubled down on his call for protests by specifying how “lifestyles” should be disrupted: “We need to change the way we think. No more polite demonstrations on motzash [Saturday night], no more runaway posts in the evening, and no more lamentation and crying. Only actions. Only results. Businesses will be shut down, services will be shut down, roads will be blocked and those who pretend to rule through corrupt, hedonistic, extremist and dark people will discover that the people are the sovereign.”

If we are to maintain our civic sanity, we need to understand this mindset, confront it and exercise the kind of care and judgment that the would-be protesters believe only they possess.

The rationale for disruptions—and one would be hard-pressed not to read “disruptions” as “violence”—is that “the people are sovereign.” According to Golan, the sovereignty of the people justifies any and all behavior designed to thwart the plans of the “dark people.”

As Jerry Seinfeld used to say, “Who are these people?” If we stipulate that the people are sovereign, then why, when they elected the new government with a clear majority, should that sovereignty be disregarded or worse, dismissed?

Golan’s “sovereignty” is “sovereignty for me but not for thee.” How can someone who has served at the top of Israel’s army and then in the Knesset be so obtuse as to apply the concept of sovereignty only to those who, in his opinion, deserve it—i.e., those who happen to subscribe to his political point of view?

Golan is right to be afraid of the degradation of the people’s sovereignty. But he does not realize that he is advocating precisely that. Importing such self-righteous political narcissism, which marked America’s 2020 riots and still marks much progressive thinking, would be terrible for Israel.

It would be even more terrible for the Israeli left because it would conclusively demonstrate the left’s contempt for the popular sovereignty they claim to advocate.

One need not demand “disruption of lifestyles” to add fuel to the fire of social division. The violent condemnation of all the government’s proposed judicial reforms in itself foments further division.

Why does the idea of judicial reforms, any judicial reforms, cause such hysterical cries that the democratic sky is falling?

Power play

The reason is loss of power. Yair Golan understands that since his party could not even cross the electoral threshold in the last election, the only way the left can continue to exercise power is through the Supreme Court and the cadre of unaccountable legal advisors attached to every government ministry.

Ironically, if the hegemony of these forces is disrupted, the sovereignty of the people might be better reflected in less constrained decision-making by their elected representatives. But these are definitely not the people whose sovereignty Golan wants to protect.

The proof that this is all a power play is that no one in the opposition has offered to debate the particulars of the proposed reforms. There has been no reasoned analysis of the proposals, let alone the idea that some of them might actually have merit.

We can see something like this in the United States. The American left’s view of their Supreme Court has undergone a historic change. Once seen as the bastion of all things good when it was under Chief Justice Earl Warren in the 1960s and ‘70s, the left now sees the Court as America’s biggest problem. So, they say, the right thing to do is pack the Court—at least when a Democrat is president—and harass the sitting justices in hopes of intimidating them into submission.

Is it too fanciful to suspect that, if Israel’s Supreme Court had the same strict constructionist tendency that its American counterpart exhibits, the left would be storming the barricades to disembowel it?

What Yair Golan and even Supreme Court President Esther Hayut owe the Israeli people is a willingness to engage with the particulars and merits, or lack thereof, of the proposed reforms.

To react with petulant condemnation just because you hate who your enemies are is the stuff of Antifa, nihilists and progressive narcissists. We do not need that in Israel.

Come, let us reason together.

Douglas Altabef is the chairman of the board of Im Tirtzu, Israel’s largest grassroots Zionist organization, and a director of B’yadenu and the Israel Independence Fund. He can be reached at dougaltabef@gmail.com.

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Attorneys plead guilty for Molotov cocktail attack on police car in May 2020, will likely receive two years or less in prison.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Two New York City attorneys who threw a Molotov cocktail inside a police car in May 2020 pleaded guilty to a number of charges in federal court last week, likely in exchange for more lenient prison sentences.

According to a Reuters report, Urooj Rahman, 33, and Colinford Mattis, 34, pleaded guilty to charges including possessing a destructive device last October, but they refused to accept responsibility on terrorism charges — which would likely see their prison terms significantly increased to up to 10 years.

Both attorneys pleaded guilty to amended charges of conspiracy to commit arson and possession of an explosive, which excluded the terrorism enhancement, last Friday.

Prosecutors recommended that the pair serve between 18 and 24 months in prison, a dramatic reduction from the 40 year sentence that they might have received without a plea deal.

They will also pay $30,137 in restitution to New York City.

Judge Brian Cogan warned Rahman and Mattis that he is not obligated to abide by the prosecutor’s recommendation for the length of their sentences.

“If you don’t like the sentence, you won’t be able to withdraw your guilty plea,” Cogan said. “Bottom line … you’re not going to know with any certainty what the sentencing will be.”

Cogan will officially sentence the pair in October.

During rioting after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, Rahman threw a Molotov cocktail through the window of an unoccupied police car. Mattis served as her getaway driver.

Before their arrests, Rahman was a tenants’ rights attorney at Bronx Legal Service. Princeton-educated Mattis was an associate at prominent law firm Pryor Cashman. Both will lose their law licenses as a result of their convictions.

Patrick J. Lynch, president of the New York City Police Benevolent Association, warned that the short sentences set a negative precedent.

“There is absolutely no justification for lowballing the sentence for an anti-police terrorist attack,” Lynch told Fox News.

“It’s bad enough that these dangerous criminals have been allowed to sit at home for the past two years. Handing them a below-guidelines sentence would give a green light to other anti-police radicals who seek to advance their cause through violence.”

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George Howard, who is charged with second-degree murder for the death of Luis Damian Martinez Ortiz, faces a maximum of 80 years in prison.

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Mark Levin, host of Fox News’ “Life, Liberty & Levin” talk show, warns likeminded viewers that “we’re gonna lose this country” if they don’t take action.

Slamming U.S. President Joe Biden and Democrats, talk show host Mark Levin warned of their “radical agenda,” saying that Black Lives Matter  and Antifa “thugs” are part of the party’s “militia wing,” Fox News reported.

Levin, host of “Life, Liberty & Levin,” told his audience Sunday night that party is becoming “increasingly more aggressive,” describing its tactics as “tyranny by legislature.”

“They hate you,” he stated.

Referring specifically to President Joe Biden, he said it’s “too bad he doesn’t understand he’s an autocrat,” adding that former President Donald Trump, in comparison, tried “protecting” the American people.

“We have tyranny by the executive branch. They don’t want to know what we think. They don’t ask for our input,” Levin charged.

“We have never seen anything like this before,” he said.

“We have a House of Representatives where the Speaker of the House rules like she’s some kind of a fascist,” he alleged. ” She has proxy voting, so members don’t have to show up. They don’t even have to show up.”

He then went on to attack the media, saying they encouraged the violent BLM riots in American cities last summer, a few months ahead of the U.S. presidential election, following the death of African American George Floyd at the hands of police.

“These autocratic regimes, in these Marxist and fascist regimes. What do they have? They have their thugs. And all through last summer, their thugs were burning cities, attacking cops, assaulting people, killing people, and the media supported it,” he said.

“The media celebrated it,” he continued.

“Now, this is not a constitutional republic when this sort of thing is happening. What’s happening is we’re empowering the Democrat Party. We’re empowering this one force. And this is what they do in autocratic regimes,” he declared.

“They have one party systems. Look at California, look at New York, look at Illinois, look at some of these other states….that’s going to be America if they get their way,” he concluded.

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Community leaders fear that the release of the footage will spark unrest in the municipality of some 18,000 people.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

A town in North Carolina is gearing up for riots in the wake of the anticipated public release of police bodycam footage from the fatal shooting of a black man last week.

Police officers in Elizabeth City, N.C. shot Andrew Brown Jr. during the execution of a drug warrant on April 21. In a laconic statement, law enforcement alluded to Brown’s criminal history, stretching back to the 1990s, and said multiple deputies fired shots during the incident.

Brown’s family and their representatives will watch the police bodycam footage of the shooting on Monday morning at the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office

Ben Crump, the attorney who won George Floyd’s family a $27 million wrongful death settlement, has been retained by Brown’s family and is set to view the footage.

In North Carolina, police bodycam footage can only be released after a judge’s approval. Community leaders fear that the release of the footage will spark unrest in the municipality of some 18,000 people.

Marching now in Elizabeth City ⁦@newsobserver⁩ pic.twitter.com/aGJgznixHF

— Josh Shaffer (@joshshaffer08) April 21, 2021

In a statement on Sunday, the local school district announced the suspension of in-person classes “due to the continuously evolving state of civil unrest in our local community and under the advisement of our local law enforcement partners.”

“Schools will share additional information regarding the remote learning schedule with families,” the Facebook statement posted by Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools. “We appreciate your support and understanding during this time.”

Local leaders, including the Rev. William Barber II, head of the Poor People’s Campaign, held a news conference last week demanding the immediate release of the footage.

“America, here is the issue: A warrant is not a license to kill, even if a suspect supposedly drives away,” Barber said. “A warrant is not permission to shoot someone.”

The New York Post reported that seven officers involved in the incident were placed on leave.

The sole witness to the shooting who’s spoken publicly, Demetria Williams, told the media that she saw Brown drive away from his home and that multiple officers fired at the back of his vehicle.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Judge Peter Cahill said that Waters’ comments were “disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judicial branch.”

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

As jurors deliberate on whether to convict former police officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd, the judge in the case has said he believes the entire trial may be thrown out at a later date.

After Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) told local media that protesters should refuse to accept the verdict if Chauvin is found not guilty, Chauvin’s attorneys asked Judge Peter Cahill to declare a mistrial.

“We’re looking for a guilty verdict,” Waters said after jetting from California to Brooklyn Center, Minnesota to visit protesters. “We have got to fight for justice… I’m very hopeful we’ll get a verdict that says ‘guilty, guilty, guilty,’ but if we don’t, we cannot go away.

“We’ve got to stay on the street and we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business.”

While Cahill denied the motion to declare a mistrial, he acknowledged that Waters’ comments could potentially result in a judge ruling to grant Chauvin a new trial in the future.

“I’ll give you that Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned,” Cahill said.

He added that he believed Waters’ comments were “disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judicial branch,” and that elected officials should not comment on the potential outcome of the trial.

“Their failure to [remain neutral], I think, is abhorrent,” he said. “But I don’t think it has prejudiced us with additional material that would prejudice this jury. They have been told not to watch the news. I trust they are following those instructions.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz declared a state of emergency in Minneapolis and its surrounding counties for fear of riots after the verdict is announced. Local news outlets reported Walz is bringing in police backup from Ohio and Nebraska.

“We can’t live like this,” Walz said during a news conference. “We simply can’t. But we can’t have thousands of businesses burned and people put at risk.”

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“Everyone in the administration was horrified,” says former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany regarding the Capitol riot, former President Trump’s CPAC address, and the future of the Republican Party.

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Dreizin’s photos illustrate the bleak reality of life in Washington, D.C., which more closely resembles a third world country than the capital city of the nation with the world’s largest economy.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Photos posted on the personal blog of a U.S. Army veteran show the nation’s capital in a state of shocking disrepair, months after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered businesses and summer 2020 riots rocked the city.

The blogger, Jacob Dreizin, introduces himself by saying, “I am 43 years old, U.S. Army veteran, two Master’s degrees, Deplorable [Trump supporter]…an immigrant, married to an immigrant, a father of three, living with my wonderful family in northern Virginia, 18 miles from Washington, D.C.”

Dreizin’s photos illustrate the bleak reality of life in Washington D.C., which more closely resembles a third world country than the capital city of the nation with the world’s largest economy.

He posts the photos with just a brief title, almost always without a caption, letting the viewers draw conclusions for themselves about the startling images they’re facing.

One photo, simply titled “ATM,” shows a battered bank machine with a smashed glass screen and card reader. From the weathered look of the ATM, it appears that it was destroyed some time ago and that the bank has not invested in repairing it.

Broken ATM (Jacob Dreizin)

The photos paint a portrait of a city devastated by unrest. Another photo posted by Dreizin, called “Sidewalk near the White House,” shows a clear connection to the riots in summer 2020.

Sidewalk near the White House. (Jacob Reizin)

Brick pavers have been pulled up from the sidewalk – presumably for use as projectiles to throw at police, or for vandalism – and leave a gaping, muddy patch in the pedestrian walkway. An abandoned shopping cart and discarded Biden-Harris sign complete the picture.

“Liberal, Jesus-free church across from White House” shows a house of worship with two stories of boarded up windows. It’s unclear if the windows were broken during unrest or if the church had boarded them up in anticipation of vandalism. A prominent “Black Lives Matter” sign hangs on the fence in the church’s front yard.

Abandoned Starbucks (Jacob Dreizin)

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Earlier this year, Antifa and other far-left extremists targeted a heavily Jewish neighborhood in Los Angeles, vandalizing synagogues and looting Jewish businesses.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

As Election Day draws nearer, Jewish groups around the United States are preparing for potential doomsday scenarios in which Jews are targeted, according to a report by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA).

“We’re not necessarily predicting that there will be a civil war, but we are very concerned that there will be some violent acts,” said Ryan Greer, the Anti-Defamation League’s director for program assessment and strategy.

“As the conspiracy theories become more urgent, many of them may be directed toward Jews.”

“We’re worried about everything from simple tactics to vehicle rammings, which we have continued to see deployed across the country in protests and basic civil gatherings, to active threat events,” Michael Masters, CEO of a security company for Jewish institutions, told JTA.

“Among domestic violent extremists, those who are racially and ethnically motivated, specifically white supremacist extremists, remain the most persistent lethal threat in the United States.”

Many officials expressed concern about President’s Trump’s alleged refusal to condemn white supremacist groups during his debate with Joe Biden. Trump later clarified his remarks.

Notably absent from the narrative is any mention of the anti-Semitic violence that took place in Los Angeles earlier this year, which was perpetrated by left-wing groups.

During the George Floyd protests in late May 2020, Antifa and other far-left extremists targeted the Fairfax district, a heavily Jewish neighborhood, vandalizing synagogues and looting Jewish businesses.

“F*** Israel, free Palestine,” was spray painted on Orthodox synagogue Beth Israel and similar graffiti was found on the nearby Baba Sale synagogue. Across the street from Beth Israel, kosher eatery Mensch Bakery and Kitchen was destroyed.

According to Aram Goldberg, vice president of the Jewish Federation Council, other Jewish institutions targeted by rioters included Shaarei Tefilah synagogue, the Shalhevet School for Girls, Congregation Tivereth Avi, and the Morasha Educational Center.

Scores of Jewish-owned businesses on Melrose Avenue were looted and vandalized.

“The attack on our community last night was vicious and criminal,” said Paul Koretz, the district’s current city councilman, in a statement. Koretz’s father was a Holocaust survivor.

“As we watched the fires and looting, what we didn’t get covered were the anti-Semitic hate crimes and incidents. Under the guise of protests, some advanced their anti-Semitic agenda.”

Dr. Irving Lebovics, chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Agudath Israel, told haredi news site Hamodia that he was confident that Jewish businesses were specifically targeted by the rioters.

“I think it is pretty obvious that there were agitators here with an agenda that goes beyond police brutality,” he said.

“Black Lives Matter and Antifa are groups with a history of anti-Semitism and virulent anti-Israel positions. Spraying ‘Free Palestine’ or obscenities about Israel on a shul doesn’t have anything to do with what happened in Minnesota.”

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“Mayor Bill de Blasio is destroying New York City,” the petition reads.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

An old petition to impeach NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has taken on new life as violent riots continue to rip through the city in protest over an African-American who died at the hands of police in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The online Change.org petition was created last year right after de Blasio announced his candidacy for president.

“Mayor Bill de Blasio is destroying New York City,” the petition reads. “This is not about being conservative, left, etc. This is about ‘radical’ politics that are harming the city and being neglectful of New Yorkers.”

The petition then goes on to list the reasons why de Blasio should be impeached.

One of the reasons given is that the mayor is “anti-police” but has “no problem” utilizing police personnel to guard him while he works out at a gym.

Another reason given is that he “avoided acknowledging” the city’s annual Puerto Rican Day parade and D-Day ceremonies.

“He also ‘forgot’ to attend a 9/11 memorial event for victims,” a third reason states.

The petition is seeking to acquire 75,000 signatures, but it looks like that number will be far surpassed as over 72,000 people have signed it as of Wednesday.

Violent riots rocked the Big Apple again on Tuesday with 700 additional arrests made, six policemen attacked, and at least six police vehicles vandalized.

In a press conference on Tuesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo criticized de Blasio’s mishandling of the riots.

“You have 38,000 NYPD people, it is the largest police department in the United States of America,” Cuomo said. “Use 38,000 people and protect property. Use the police, protect property and people. Look at the videos, it was a disgrace.”

Cuomo also said he has the power to “displace” de Blasio and take over the situation but  doesn’t think “we’re at that point.”

On Monday, an 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. curfew was placed on the city, which will last until the end of the week. However, thousands of protesters defied the curfew on Tuesday night.

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The protests started off peacefully but quickly turned violent as demonstrators set fires, attacked police, and vandalized buildings.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

More than 60 Secret Service special agents were injured over the weekend as violent rioters took to the streets in Washington, D.C. to protest the death of George Floyd, an African-American man who was killed in Minneapolis by police last week.

Protesters threw “bricks, rocks, bottles, fireworks and other items” at agents and were “kicked, punched, and exposed to bodily fluids,” according to a statement from the Secret Service. Eleven agents were sent to a local hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries.

The Secret Service also said no one crossed the White House fence and no agent was ever in any real danger.

Seven people rioting near the White House were reportedly arrested by the Secret Service and at least 4,000 people were arrested throughout the city by police over the weekend.

On Saturday, President Donald Trump tweeted that many Secret Service agents were “just waiting for action” and ready to unleash “the most vicious dogs, and the most ominous weapons, I have ever seen.”

In contrast with the president’s tweets, the Secret Service said it “respects the right to assemble and we ask that individuals do so peacefully for the safety of all.”

The protests that began on Friday originally started off peacefully but quickly turned violent as demonstrators set fires, attacked police, and vandalized buildings.

Fires and break-ins were being reported near the White House on Sunday night and NBC Washington captured an aerial view of black smoke engulfing the area around the president’s residence.

To help control the riots, the National Guard was activated by the secretary of the Army at the request of local police.

In addition, Trump was briefly escorted to a secret bunker for protection.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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“I was here as part of Magen Am, and we defended Shaarei Tefila today,” a volunteer said.

By Josh Plank, World Israel News

Members of the Jewish volunteer security group Magen Am fended off rioters intending to deface the Shaarei Tefila synagogue in Los Angeles on Saturday night.

In a video circulating on social media and verified by The Algemeiner, a member of Magen Am described the attack and the security group’s firm response.

The volunteer pointed out graffiti on the sidewalk in front of the synagogue. “They were spray-painting this whole area,” he said, until he “sent them off.” Though outnumbered, he said that displaying “a little bit of confidence” seemed to work.

While several nearby businesses were pillaged and there was “tear gas galore” in the area, he said that the group of volunteers stood firm on the steps of Shaarei Tefila.

He pointed to a single line of spray paint on one of the pillars outside the synagogue. “This one line a guy started, and I literally sent him flying. Didn’t touch him, but sent him flying. He got pretty scared off by us,” he said.

Other than this small paint mark, rioters were unable to do any damage to the synagogue. “I was here as part of Magen Am, and we defended Shaarei Tefila today,” the volunteer concluded.

Magen Am (Hebrew for “Nation’s Shield”) is a registered nonprofit organization whose mission statement is “To train and empower the community to secure itself from within.” The group offers a variety of training programs aimed at protecting the Jewish community.

Several other synagogues in Los Angeles were struck by rioters. “F–k Israel, Free Palestine” was spray-painted on the wall of Congregation Beth Israel.

In addition, Beit Medrash Kehilat Yaakov and Congregation Tifereth Tzvi were vandalized with spray paint, and multiple Jewish businesses were looted.

Members of Magen Am were also escorting the Jewish ambulance service Hatzolah in Los Angeles on Saturday night.

The California National Guard was later deployed in an effort to restore order.

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“The answer to hate and bigotry is not more hate,” Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles tweeted.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

Violent riots across the country, sparked by the death of an African-American who was killed by police brutality, spread to the Jewish community in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles on Saturday.

Anti-Semitic graffiti that read “F-Israel, Free Palestine,” was found on the wall of Congregation Beth Israel, one of the oldest synagogues in Los Angeles, first reported by Lisa Daftari, founder and editor of The Foreign Desk website.

“Synagogue Congregation Beth Israel on Beverly Blvd. in Los Angeles vandalized… Tell me this ugly hatred is still about #BLM or #GeorgeFloyd?!” Daftari tweeted on Saturday.

Jewish advocacy groups condemned the anti-Semitic graffiti.

“Vandalism is never ok,” Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles tweeted. “Antisemitism is never ok. The answer to hate and bigotry is not more hate. We are better than this Los Angeles.”

“Once again we see vile anti-Semitism being disguised as activism. To vandalize a synagogue during this horrific time does nothing but further divide a broken country,” Liora Rez, director of StopAntisemitism.org, told the Jewish Journal.

As protests raged across Minneapolis on Wednesday, anti-Semitic graffiti was found on a bench across the street from a synagogue in the southern part of the city.

According to a statement by the leadership of the Shir Tikvah Congregation, locals discovered the vandalism that read “Seig Heil, Heil Hitler, Trump 2020,” and reported it to the police and the Jewish Community Relations Council.

“We are grateful to these neighbors who, with love and pain, brought these to our attention (and one went home to get electrical tape to cover what he saw, before calling in the incident),” the statement said.

The death of 46-year-old George Floyd, an African-American who was recorded on video pleading for air after a Minneapolis policeman pressed on his neck for nine-minutes on Monday, continues to spark violent riots across the United States.

The post ‘Ugly hatred’: LA synagogue vandalized during riots appeared first on World Israel News.

Anarchists missed their target when they harmed a Muslim immigrant during anti-Trump riots. 

Last Friday, anti-Trump demonstrators rioted in Washington, DC, as the inauguration ceremony for the newly elected US president took place.

The rioters smashed store fronts, destroyed property, and among other things, smashed and set a limousine on fire.

The Washington Examiner revealed on Tuesday that the limo belonged to a Muslim immigrant.

The car owner, Muhammad Ashraf, says the damage could cost his company $70,000 because his insurance does not cover riots.

Ashraf’s employee, Luis Villarroel, 58, was dropping a client off at their destination when things turned ugly.

Protesters smashed doors and windows in the vicinity, but then turned their attention to Villarroel and the limo. People began pounding on the car and started throwing stones and bricks in his direction.

The driver ended up in hospital with cuts on his hands and arms from shattered glass.

By: World Israel News Staff

The post Limo burned by anti-Trump rioters belonged to Muslim immigrant appeared first on World Israel News.