Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the oldest synagogue in Los Angeles, has filed a lawsuit against three anti-Israel organisations, alleging that they coordinated the disruption of a community event held there last December.
The disruption was part of what the complaint described as a “carefully conceived and coordinated attack on Jewish Angelenos and others”.
The synagogue told JNS that “demonstrators blocked access to the temple, threatened guests and damaged property”.
“The temple’s participation in this lawsuit reflects our ongoing commitment to maintaining a campus that is safe, welcoming and vibrant for all who come here to worship, learn, seek support and serve the greater community,” it said.
The Louis D Brandeis Centre for Human Rights Under Law and the firm Covington and Burling filed the suit in the US District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of the synagogue and the Louis D. Brandeis Centre Coalition to Combat Antisemitism, a separate entity from the centre.
Four people are named as defendants in the suit, and 40 others are listed as unnamed defendants.
“Defendants agreed, conspired and coordinated on their plan to disrupt the symposium, including by unlawfully obstructing entrances to the temple, by intimidating symposium attendees, the temple’s community members and coalition members, by staggered disruption of the symposium and by destruction of the temple’s property,” the suit stated.
The symposium, which the Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Southwest sponsored with the Jewish Federation Los Angeles and the Korean American Federation of Los Angeles, focused on improving public safety for the local Jewish and Korean communities.
The suit stated that the Turtle Island Liberation Front LA, People’s City Council (PCC) LA and Koreatown 4 Palestine issued calls to action about the event on their respective social media accounts.
JNS sought comment from the first two but couldn’t find information for the third.
The protest was organised after it emerged that a representative from Elbit Systems, an Israeli defence contractor, was slated to give a presentation on artificial intelligence at the event. Turtle Island called for its followers to protest “these genocidal war criminals”.
The PCC and Koreatown for Palestine also called to shut down the event, which the former called a “Zionist consulate event” and the latter said was a “Zionist event featuring weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems”.
On the morning of the event, anti-Israel protesters outside the synagogue “formed a human barricade” and surrounded cars, which attendees were trying to park in the synagogue garage. They prevented up to 40 cars from entering, according to the suit.
Some protesters also “physically accosted” a parent of a child at one of the synagogue’s schools and obstructed one of the coalition members from entering the temple and called her a “Zionist pig” and “baby killer”.
The disruption followed the “PCC’s playbook for disrupting events” by occurring several times at the symposium, the suit alleged.
It began with a Turtle Island leader named as a defendant, and an unidentified person standing up and displaying a Palestinian flag while shouting “genocide” and “baby killer”. Security removed them, according to the suit.
Another named defendant later threw a vase to the ground and charged at the Israeli consul general and shouted obscenities at him. Security stopped him and removed him from the room, and he was later arrested on charges of vandalism, according to the suit.
A third defendant shouted “genocide” and “baby killers” during the event. Security also removed her, and she was arrested for battery of a security guard, according to the suit.
Finally, another defendant whom the suit identifies as a leader of the People’s City Council and architect of the group’s “intimidation tactics,” screamed and pounded on glass doors where the event was held. He did so while pushing a stroller with a child and with a baby strapped to his chest, the suit alleged.
The defendant has a history of exploiting “his children both to insulate himself from security and to disrupt proceedings,” it claimed.
Due to the disruption, the synagogue had to close its social service centre, according to the suit.
The suit also said that two coalition members named as plaintiffs were scared due to the disruption, and one left the event early while the other felt comfortable departing only after police assured her that the premises were secure.
“The December 3, 2025, attack on the temple represents a dangerous escalation in antisemitic violence against Jewish houses of worship,” the suit stated. “Those responsible must be held accountable.”
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