More anti-Israel, pro-Gaza graffiti reported at Jewish sites in L.A.
Denounced by leaders as antisemitic, some vandalism probed as possible hate crimes.
The same day that antisemitic graffiti was found painted outside Canter’s Deli in the Fairfax district last week, at least half a dozen other similar incidents of vandalism were discovered at Jewish businesses, schools and synagogues around L.A., authorities said.
Some of the other incidents of vandalism were reported on Wednesday in the Pico-Roberston neighborhood, known for its large Jewish community, and included anti-Israel and proPalestinian messages, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
The incident outside Canter’s is being investigated as a possible hate crime, Los Angeles police said.
The graffiti there included messages in white paint under the Fairfax Community Mural, which faces Canter’s parking lot and features historic figures of Los Angeles’ Jewish community, such as Dodgers legend Sandy Koufax. The graffiti included messages that read, “Israel’s only religion is capitalism,” “How many dead in the name of greed?” and “Free Gaza.”
The incidents, denounced by Jewish and civic leaders as antisemitic attacks on their community, come amid an escalating war between Israel and Hamas, whose militant-slaunched a brutal offensive from the neighboring Gaza Strip on southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Since then, more than 1,400 people have reportedly died on the Israeli side, with Hamas continuing to hold about 220 people hostage in Gaza. More than 8,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli counterattacks on Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Since the Oct. 7 attack in Israel, the Anti-Defamation League says, harassment, vandalism and attacks against Jews have surged around the country.
“Vandalizing and targeting synagogues, Jewish neighborhoods and a mural about local Jewish history on the wall of the iconic Canter’s Deli on Fairfax Boulevard is heinous and antisemitic,” said Jeffrey Abrams, L.A. regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in Los Angeles.
In addition to the Canter’s incident, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed a second act of vandalism in the 300 block of La Brea Avenue that is also being investigated as a possible hate crime.
In all, five additional incidents were reported on Wednesday to the Anti-Defamation League and relayed to the LAPD, according to the Jewish civil rights organization. A spokesperson for the LAPD could not confirm that reports were taken for all of those incidents.
Two utility boxes located in front of a yeshiva, a Jewish academy of Talmudic learning, in the 1200 block of South La Cienega Boulevard were tagged with “Free Gaza,” according to the ADL. A similar message was found two blocks away, near the intersection of Whitworth Drive and South Orlando Boulevard.
A poster at a bus stop was also spray-painted with the message “Free Gaza” near the intersection of Pico Boulevard and Alfred Street. A construction site near Melrose and La Brea avenues was vandalized with “I$rael Killers” in white paint.
And Congregation Bais Yehuda, in the 360 block of North La Brea Avenue, was also spray-painted with “Free Gaza,” according to the ADL. The ADL has images of the graffiti, which were reviewed by The Times.
On the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky called the incidents “disgusting.”
Yaroslavsky, whose districts includes the locations where the graffiti was found, said her staff responded to seven incidents in her district.
“Jews in L.A. have been sounding the alarm on the rise in anti-semitism for years,” she wrote. “It’s disgusting and it has no place in Los Angeles.”