LAPD investigating attack on Jewish diners as possible hate crime

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is investigating whether a Tuesday night attack on a group of Jewish men dining in the Beverly Grove neighborhood was in fact potentially a hate crime perpetrated by a pro-Palestinian group.

The attack took place in the Beverly Grove neighborhood in western Los Angeles, where there is a significant Jewish community, just hours after an afternoon demonstration near the Israeli consulate at which the Palestinian Youth Movement organized.

According to eyewitnesses, a caravan waving Palestinian flags approached the Sushi Fumi on the 300 block of North La Cienega Boulevard, when men dressed mostly in black got out of the cars physically attacking Jewish diners.

A group of men then went downstairs to ask some of the restaurant's customers if they were "Jews." Two of them replied in the affirmative, which triggered the violence, according to the reports.

The LAPD said it was investigating the incident, assessing whether it was a crime "motivated by hate."

No arrests had yet been made as of Wednesday afternoon.

Tensions between the Palestinian Diaspora and Jews have spilled over into violence in many US cities, with synagogues being vandalized and individuals attacked, as well as other locations across the world, including London.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti strongly condemned on Twitter what he called "an organized antisemitic attack". "The Jewish residents of Los Angeles, like everyone else, should feel safe in our city. There is no room for antisemitism, discrimination or prejudice of any kind in Los Angeles."

According to CBS television, police are also investigating CCTV footage recorded Monday evening that appears to show a man in traditional Orthodox Jewish clothing being followed by a car convoy waving Palestinian flags.

Footage emerged on social media of another altercation between a group of young men waving Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyehs attacking two Israeli men in Manhattan, New York.