Members of the Jewish community who were attacked by anti-Israel protesters outside Adas Torah speak out

Two members of the Los Angeles Jewish community who said they were attacked by anti-Israel protesters outside the Adas Torah Synagogue on June 23 described their experiences in an interview with The Journal.

Naftoli Sherman, 25, suffered a broken nose and a black eye that day after being attacked by anti-Israel rioters. He was mistakenly identified as a woman in videos on social media that went viral. Pico-Robertson resident Talia Regev, 42, was sprayed with bear spray. Sherman, who is originally from Brooklyn and now runs a bartending service, came to the synagogue because he “knew we needed as many people as possible to protect each other and make sure (the anti-Israel rioters) couldn’t just come into our community and say things that were against us.” Regev, who is starting a chronic pain management company, came to attend the Israeli real estate fair being held at Adas Torah and “to support the Jewish community, knowing that there have been issues with violence against Jews in many places around the world in the recent past.”

“To our right and to our left, we had pro-Palestinian protesters chanting ‘Free Palestine’ and things like ‘We don’t like Israel’ and ‘Israel should be destroyed’ and things like that,” Sherman said, adding that there wasn’t much security personnel present other than Shmira Public Safety and Magen Am and about 10 to 15 police officers.

Regev said that initially there were 10 to 15 members of the Jewish community there and that police officers told her that the anti-Israel protesters would stay on the other side of the street, separate from the Jewish community. But the anti-Israel protesters tried to break through the police cordon “and it was a bit scary because I could see the hands going through.” Over time, “hundreds of people from both sides” came.

Regev claimed that police initially did not allow Jews into the synagogue, but eventually relented. Protesters then formed a human chain to try to stop anyone from entering Adas Torah. “They started pushing us violently,” she said. “If we hadn’t backed away, I would have been knocked over. So I told everyone on our side: don’t interfere. They wanted to push us and say we didn’t touch you… but they literally pushed us.”

“At one point there was no room for the Jews right in front of the synagogue, so I had to go out into the street. When I went out into the street, I realized that Jews and pro-Palestinian protesters were not separated. We were all mixed up,” Sherman said. “Everyone started talking loudly to each other, looking at each other’s faces, there was no separation, so we were all literally standing right next to each other. You could have been attacked from any side, from any place, and no one had any protection.”

Sherman said he saw people being shoved and an anti-Israel protester “throw something at a Jewish girl who was just standing there with a flag” and the protesters kept saying, “I’ll get you later, I’ll see you.” The Jewish woman then stood behind Sherman for protection.

He also claimed to have told one of the anti-Israel protesters to leave and that the Jewish community would leave as well, “and then we’ll be done. But you’re part of our community, we can’t leave until you’re completely gone.” Sherman said the rioter responded that they wouldn’t leave “until we’re done with what we came here to do. I don’t know what he meant by that, but I don’t think he meant anything good.”

At this point, Sherman saw 30 people beating him and tried to get back to the side of the Jewish community members. Eventually, he passed 10 to 15 protesters, “and as I passed them, they all lunged at me. One just punched me, broke my nose… and then it felt like a bunch of people were stomping on my head. There were no police officers there to protect us, that’s crazy.” Some members of the Jewish community intervened to break up the fight, which Sherman says saved his life. “Who knows, a few more seconds and I could have had brain damage or something… luckily I got out and I’m OK.”

Regev, along with two other rabbis, helped break up the brawl. “I ran up to it, and the police were just standing there,” she said, adding that Sherman “was in a football hold. There were people piled on top of him, so we literally had to … pull him off and push the hooligans away.” Regev claimed she told police that Sherman needed medical attention, but they seemed “confused” and told her that they were “not medical professionals.” Hatzalah was then called, although Regev claimed they were not allowed in, so they had to get medical help at Walgreens. Sherman also claimed that police did not let him pass to go to the emergency room, telling him he had to run around the block, despite Sherman pleading that his nose could be permanently disfigured if he did not receive medical attention soon. He eventually made it to the emergency room, but had to wait six hours.

Regev noticed that the rioters were heading toward nearby Jewish neighborhoods, so she and a rabbi “formed another line and we held them back.” She told the protesters to “please leave so everyone is safe. Let’s just not fight. A lot of them didn’t listen to her, but most of them did.” As she escorted the protesters out, Regev saw one of them looking angry and holding up two flagpoles that looked like he was going to use them to attack people; Regev pleaded with him to calm down and leave the area peacefully. The protester did leave, but as he got into his car, he sprayed bear repellent in the area and came into contact with Regev’s right side.

“It burned like crazy,” Regev said. “I almost fell over.”

Regev found Sherman and together they limped “in pain” to Walgreens, where they were treated by Hatzalah. Regev then called a doctor who works in an emergency room across the street, only to find out that the doctor had been pepper sprayed, so she and Sherman went to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Additionally, Sherman heard “crazy things” from the anti-Israel protesters, including one who said he didn’t like Israel and then said, “You Jews are all crazy,” after which Sherman confronted the protester, saying, “Oh, wait, is it Israel or is it Jews?” The protester responded that he didn’t like Sherman’s long hair and that he “got on my nerves.” Regev claimed she heard anti-Israel protesters chanting “Zionist pigs” and “globalize the intifada”; she also said a neo-Nazi was there and told her directly, “Jews may be from Europe, but so are Nazis.”

Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi said in a June 24 press conference that anti-Israel protesters were “coming in waves”; Sherman said that was “100%” true. “Everywhere you went, there were more of them,” Sherman said, describing some of the rioters as “bigger” and “looking people in the eye and saying, ‘Come here, I want to fight you.'”

Regev said the anti-Israel protesters eventually “moved east toward Jewish restaurants and the Jewish Quarter. The police are literally doing nothing.” So Regev “followed the crowd” and formed a human chain with a rabbi and another person to hold back the rioters. Regev also saw anti-Israel protesters banging on the windows of a Jewish-owned bagel shop; she broke up a fight there.

So she went to the police and told them to “stop this because it’s going to get violent in five minutes.” Regev claimed that police told her they were told to stand down; Regev could not remember exactly whether police told her it was her captain or sergeant who gave the order. However, at a security meeting on June 26, LAPD Commander Steve Lurie strongly denied the claim that they were told to stand down as “obviously untrue” and “nonsense.”

Sherman doesn’t know if the police were ordered by elected officials to stand down, but what he does know is that “they didn’t do anything when they were supposed to do something. I don’t understand why they didn’t step in and separate the Jews from the pro-Palestinians. It was happening right in front of their eyes, they saw us being beaten, they saw them screaming, it was so obvious there was going to be fighting.”

“(The LAPD) did nothing when they should have done something. I don’t understand why they didn’t step in and separate the Jews from the pro-Palestinians. It was right under their noses, they saw us being beaten, they saw them screaming, it was so obvious there was going to be fighting.” – Naftoli Sherman

He also believes that some of the anti-Israel protesters were paid agitators. “From what they said, they knew nothing about Israel’s history,” Sherman said, recalling how she asked an anti-Israel rioter if she condemned Hamas and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks; the rioter denied both. “It only makes sense to me that they were paid. I don’t know who was paying them and how they got these addresses and stuff, but they definitely don’t know what they’re talking about.” Regev also believes that countless rioters were paid, since many of them called for an “intifada” but didn’t know what the term or “Zionism” meant. “Of course, some knew, but many had no idea,” she said, adding, “They were there to get on our nerves.”

Another witness to the June 23 events, 62-year-old management consultant Marvin Epstein, noted that at least one of the anti-Israel protesters was dragging a keffiyeh (a holy cloth) along the ground. “(He) looked like someone who just got off work and was exhausted after a long day at work. So it’s hard to believe that the history of some of their ideologies is authentic when they literally don’t even respect the costume that they’re wearing,” Epstein said. “And that’s why someone even asked, ‘Why are you even wearing that costume?’ And they said, ‘Because there’s genocide in the world.'”

Regev said the events of June 23 reminded her of “Nazi Germany before the Holocaust. We should feel safe in our own synagogues… we need security guards because we know we are not safe.” But she believes the message from the Jewish community is: “We are not afraid, and that is why we went to help. Because we knew that if the police don’t help, then at least we can help.”

She also argued that the Jewish community should arm itself for protection and complained that it could take up to a year and a half to obtain a permit.

After the events of June 23, Sherman “realized that I need to take life more seriously” and that “I should be so proud to be Jewish… I feel so lucky and privileged to be Jewish, and that is the one thing I will never give up… I want to share that feeling with every Jew in the world.”

“We have experienced anti-Semitism for thousands of years, and we have survived, and we will survive, and we are strong,” Regev said, adding that the Jewish community is ready to work with the LAPD and other local police forces to ensure that something like this never happens again.