Victims of antisemitic riot at LA synagogue sue its organizers

The plaintiffs say CodePink, Palestinian Youth Movement and WESPAC Foundation violated their First Amendment right to freedom of worship.  

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Victims of a June riot at a California synagogue have sued organizations they accuse of inciting the riot Wednesday in federal court, accusing them of violating their First Amendment rights.

Seven Jewish members of the StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice are charging the groups CodePink, the Palestinian Youth Movement, and WESPAC Foundation under a law that prohibits any kind of intimidation of those trying to exercise their right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.

Called the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act, the law was originally meant to penalize those blocking access to, or threatening or using violence against those coming to abortion clinics.

On June 23, more than 200 rioters, organized by the three charged groups, marched into the predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Pico-Robertson in Los Angeles and blocked access to the Adas Torah synagogue.

Many of them were armed with a variety of weapons, and the rioters attacked worshippers who were coming to attend regularly-scheduled afternoon prayers, as well as a real estate fair for those interested in buying property in Israel.

Victims included those who were punched in the face, put in a headlock, shoved to the ground, bloodied, and squirted with bear spray, whose active ingredient is highly irritant and is supposed to be used to deter charging bears.

Videos that went viral online showed both masked and unmasked rioters shouting antisemitic slogans, and waving Palestinian flags, and violently clashing with some pro-Israel demonstrators who tried to stop them from blocking the way to the synagogue.

“It was shocking to witness pro-Hamas thugs shut down a synagogue and assault Jews in the streets,” one of the plaintiffs, who didn’t want to be named, told Fox News Digital Friday. “This isn’t the America I know and love.”

“Since it appears there will be no other consequences for these criminals, we decided to seek consequences via the legal system,” the plaintiff added. “We shouldn’t have to do this – but since Los Angeles law enforcement failed to produce results, we decided to act.”

Although police were on the scene, some have accused them of failing to intervene to prevent the assaults. While one couple was temporarily detained, only one individual was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of carrying a spiked flag.

Their inaction angered many in the Jewish community.

The plaintiffs are demanding some $5,000 for each violation, and additional “appropriate punitive damages.”

Mark Goldfeder, Director of the National Jewish Advocacy Center, one of three firms filing the lawsuit, indicated that the case was quite straightforward.

“The evidence is overwhelming that these groups maliciously organized more than 200 people to deprive Jewish citizens of their First Amendment right to freedom of religion using violence and intimidation,” he wrote.

“That’s more than 200 clear-cut violations of federal law and more than 200 clear-cut violations of state law,” he continued. “Those responsible for violently stopping Jewish people from entering their house of worship should face steep consequences.”

The violence was condemned at the time by Mayor Karen Bass, California Governor Gavin Newsome, and U.S. President Joe Biden, among others.

“I’m appalled by the scenes outside of Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles,” Biden wrote on X. “Intimidating Jewish congregants is dangerous, unconscionable, antisemitic and un-American.”

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