(JNS) The Santa Monica Police Department is probing an assault on an Israeli man at the Santa Monica Pier, a popular tourist attraction west of downtown Los Angeles, on Sunday as a hate crime, a department spokesman told JNS.

The victim, who was speaking Hebrew, sustained minor injuries from the attack, according to Lt. Lewis Gilmour, a department spokesman. Gilmour said officers are investigating the attack as a hate crime “based on statements made during the incident and circumstances reported.”

 

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The Jewish Journal identified the victim as Ariel Yaakov Marciano, 24.

Marciano, who was wearing a Star of David necklace when he was attacked, told the Journal that he was visiting from Sacramento for his cousin’s bar mitzvah.

When the assailants noticed he was talking Hebrew to an Israeli man from Las Vegas, they attacked him, he told the paper. “One of them hit me on the back of the head, and I started bleeding,” he told the paper. (JNS sought comment from the victim.)

The victim told the paper that he was pushed and attackers tore the necklace from him and that he pushed an attacker, who was masked. He told the Journal that about 20 people attacked him.

One drew a knife and said, “You’re lucky I’m not stabbing you,” and another pepper-sprayed him, he told the paper.

The police spokesman told JNS that there were “several verbal altercations and disturbances” between what he called a “pro-Gaza demonstration” at a nearby park and a counter-demonstration, with about 100 people.

“We are deeply disturbed by this incident and the hateful conduct reported in connection with it,” he said. “The Santa Monica Police Department condemns all forms of hate and antisemitism. We want to be clear: Hatred and intimidation will not be tolerated here.”

Peter Levi, interim Los Angeles regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, told JNS that “in America, targeting Israelis and Jews for violence is abhorrent and a hate crime.”

“We are experiencing a deplorable escalation of antisemitism across southern California, warranting the immediate attention of law enforcement, community leaders and elected officials,” Levi said. “We call on everyone to take a stand against the violence and intimidation targeting our community.”

Roz Rothstein, CEO and co-founder of StandWithUs, told JNS that “it is despicable and incredulous that in 2025 a man who thinks differently than others would be physically assaulted.”

“This was a cowardly attack by people wearing masks,” she said. “Ariel is lucky that he escaped with his life. People from all nationalities and beliefs should be able to express their identity freely without fear that they will be accosted for it.”