California ICE protests spark calls for ‘nonviolence’ from Jewish community leaders
“We will not answer violence with violence,” said Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR
Rabbi Sharon Brous speaks during a vigil to call for an end to violence of immigration raids, and the protection of immigrant families in LA County by interfaith leaders from across Los Angeles County on June 10, 2025.(Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
(JTA) — Rabbis and other Jewish communal leaders are speaking out as protests over federal immigration raids in Los Angeles stretch into their fifth day and spread to other cities.
Rabbi Sharon Brous, the founder of the nondenominational L.A. congregation IKAR, addressed the crowd Tuesday at an interfaith prayer vigil and recalled the story of Exodus and its tales of defiance against Pharoah.
“These people lived under a brutal authoritarian regime, and every gesture was an act of defiant protest, an affirmation that the best response to the harsh and hostile landscape of their time was love and humanity,” Brous said.
“We are here. We will not obey in advance. We will not turn our gaze. We will not fan the flames of extremism,” she continued later in her remarks, to a cheering crowd. “We will not answer violence with violence. We will not turn against one another.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a curfew Tuesday night to “stop bad actors who are taking advantage of the President’s chaotic escalation,” she announced in a post on X. The prayer vigil took place before the curfew went into effect.
The protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests of undocumented immigrants have escalated across California and spread to other cities across the country, with some including clashes with police and hundreds of arrests.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to deploy to California. He said the manpower was needed to quell the protests, while his critics — including Bass and other California authorities — say he was seeking a pretense to crack down on dissent.
As the protests escalated across California this week, some pro-Palestinian demonstrators have joined in. One man was filmed wearing what appeared to be a Hamas armband while waving a Palestinian flag in front of a burning car. In San Francisco, meanwhile, one Jewish-owned cafe found itself caught in the crosshairs.
The Jewish owner of Manny’s Cafe, which also serves as a civic space, Manny Yekutiel, found that the windows of his establishment had been defaced with graffiti reading “Death to Israel is a promise,” “Fuck Zionism,” “die Zio” and “The only good settler is a dead 1” during a protest Monday night.
Yekutiel had participated in the ICE protests earlier in the day Monday before being alerted to the damage to his cafe, he told J. The Jewish News of Northern California.
“We have real enemies attacking the bedrock of our country’s democracy, and it feels very counterproductive, in the midst of that, to attack each other,” Yekutiel told the local newspaper. “This is not the time for people to be writing antisemitic hatred on progressive, social justice-loving, democratic Jewish cafe owners.”
The Anti-Defamation League of California condemned the vandalism in a post on X.
“What happened to Manny’s Cafe @welcometomannys in San Francisco is not just vandalism—it’s a hate crime,” the post read. “‘Die Zio’ spray-painted across the windows of a civic space that has welcomed people of all backgrounds is a chilling reminder of the rising antisemitism in our communities.”
In response to the escalating protests, the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, a cross-denominational group of Jewish spiritual leaders, also issued a statement calling on protesters to “remain peaceful.”
“As the current situation continues to unfold, we unequivocally affirm the right to peaceful protest. At the same time, we reject violence, vandalism, and actions that endanger public safety,” the statement read. “Such behavior undermines both our shared principles as well as the message of the protests and is entirely indefensible. We call upon all protesters to remain peaceful and demonstrate respect for law enforcement.”
“Government actions that appear to circumvent due process deserve serious concern and scrutiny. We call upon federal, state, and local leaders to work together to restore calm and security for our communities while ensuring the dignity of our city and all who live here,” the statement continued.
The Wilshire Boulevard Temple, a Reform synagogue in Los Angeles, echoed the group’s sentiments in a post on its Instagram page.
“Judaism teaches that sacred argument must be rooted in dignity. We cherish debate l’shem shamayim-for the sake of heaven. We choose peace over violence, justice over destruction. We stand with Los Angeles,” said Rabbi Joel Nickerson in the post.
