The shameful attack on an LA synagogue – Orange County Register

Pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with pro-Israel counter-protesters outside the Adas Torah Synagogue on West Pico Boulevard in the predominantly Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday, June 23, 2024. (Google Street View)

Is nothing sacred?

Well, even in these often irreligious times, places of worship are sacred. You don’t have to be a follower of a particular faith to be quiet and respectful when visiting a church, to follow protocol when entering a mosque, or to obey the rules inside or outside a temple. It doesn’t require much effort. It’s the least you can do. If you can’t do that, then please stay home.

And yet, in the current and seemingly endless dispute over the Gaza war, some young protesters are confusing the current Israeli government with ancient Judaism, thereby moving their politics into the category of blatant, shameful anti-Semitism.

This happened on Sunday at the Adas Torah Synagogue in the heavily Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood of Los Angeles, when pro-Palestinian demonstrators who said they were protesting against an event taking place there that they said promoted the sale of stolen Palestinian land provoked clashes with synagogue members and supporters of Israel.

Americans have the right to protest – against anything they want. But they do not have the moral or ethical superiority to, as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass later said, cast “a shadow of fear” into “the heart of one of our Jewish communities” and “at the regional and national level.”

“Yesterday was abhorrent, and blocking access to a place of worship is absolutely unacceptable,” Bass said at a press conference after the horrific event. “This violence was meant to instill fear. It was meant to divide. But hear me loud and clear: It will fail.”

Such a disgusting incident in a place of worship is bound to trigger exaggerated reactions. One of these reactions is the call by many to ban face coverings in public demonstrations – many of the pro-Palestinian protesters wore masks.

The idea of ​​such a ban is pure humbug as far as civil liberties are concerned and probably unenforceable. At the same time, the demand for it is unfortunately understandable. The very idea that mask wearers are doing this – whether with a keffiyeh or an N95 mask – out of fear of COVID infection is absurd. They are hiding their faces for other reasons.

The attackers at the synagogue were told to mask themselves out of shame.