A brawl broke out Wednesday evening outside the Museum of Tolerance where anti-Israel demonstrators gathered to oppose Gal Gadot’s screening of a film of atrocities committed by the Palestinian terror group Hamas in its October attack.
Breitbart News was among the first outlets in the world to see the film, a 43-minute compilation of footage recorded by Hamas on GoPros and mobile phones, as well as by victims of the attack on dashboard cameras, surveillance cameras, and their own phones.
As this author later recounted, it was ““the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” and “one of the most brutal attacks on civilians that the Western world has ever seen.” Gadot, who is Israeli, held a screening for a select group of Hollywood colleagues, because she wanted to drive home the reality of what happened.
But pro-Palestinian activists objected — as they have objected to the posters of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, and any other evidence of Jewish or Israeli victimhood.
The Los Angeles Times noted:
Miguel Angel Arias, 33 , whose wife is Palestinian, said he came out to demonstrate against the private screening at the Museum of Tolerance.
“You have a film that is being shown at a time when people are calling for a cease-fire,” he said. “The screening is only for a few privileged people and it doesn’t lead to conversation.”
Arias believed the video would be used to justify the killing of innocent Palestinians.
The Times added that one sign held by a protester said: “The Museum of Tolerance is showing a pro-genocide film.”
Violence broke out — allegedly instigated by the anti-Israel protesters, though media reported only that there wee multiple fights.
#BREAKING: Two groups clash outside L.A.’s Museum of Tolerance as the center screens a film on Hamas atrocities. LAPD officers move in as several people appear to have been punched and pepper-sprayed. Eyewitness News is live with the tense situation. Tonight at 11 from ABC7 pic.twitter.com/JJSpV6MmXi
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) November 9, 2023
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So anti-Israel protestors found out Gal Gadot was helping screen the video of 10/7 atrocities at the Museum of Tolerance in LA tonight.
They showed up and are now apparently attacking Israel supporters there. pic.twitter.com/FmuseFK4JZ
— AG (@AGHamilton29) November 9, 2023
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Local KABC-7 reported:
Police responded to the Museum of Tolerance Wednesday night as multiple fights broke out in conjunction with the screening of footage depicting the Hamas attack on Israel.
…
The screening generated controversy and threats on social media, with supporters of the Palestinian cause accusing the “Wonder Woman” actress of supporting genocide, while backers of Israel came to her defense.
…
AIR7 HD was over the scene as dozens of people were gathered outside the museum. Multiple fights broke out, with several people being pepper-sprayed.
The Times noted that its photographer’s glasses were broken, and a woman was punched in the face.
The Hollywood Reporter described the film (Gadot herself was not present):
As was forewarned, the footage was gruesome. Among other things, it depicted Israelis being ambushed, shot through windshields and beheaded with shovels, and it included audio of terrorists proudly parading around hostages and calling loved ones back in Gaza to boast about their misdeeds. For some, it was all too much — a number of attendees could be heard weeping, and some left the theater mid-film, unable to watch anymore. For others, it was not enough — when it ended, as Sheffler rose to speak again, several attendees marched out of the theater and shouted that viewers should not have been spared any of the atrocities that were committed, so that people would know the full extent of Hamas’ evil.
The fights outside happened just three days after a 69-year-od Jewish man was allegedly killed in a confrontation between pro- and anti-Israel demonstrators in the community of Westlake Village. Police are still seeking video of that incident.
The Museum of Tolerance is an important landmark in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Pico-Robertson, and is the educational institution of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, named for the prominent Nazi hunter. Recent pro-Israel marches have ended there.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.