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September 30 - October 27, 2022 Volume 38, Issue 64
Antisemitic Flyers Distributed to Homes in Pacific Palisades and Brentwood Congressman Ted W. Lieu calls on FBI to launch formal investigation By Sam Catanzaro Last month Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County), Co-Chair of the Bipartisan Anti-Semitism Task Force, called on the FBI to launch a formal investigation into hateful flyers that were distributed to homes in Brentwood and Pacific Palisades. In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Rep. Lieu urged the FBI to do more to address the recurrent acts of antisemitism committed in and around Los Angeles County, noting that this week’s incidents were not the first time members of the community have received such flyers. According to Lieu’s office, on August 21, 2022, residents of Brentwood and Pacific Palisades reported to local law enforcement that they discovered antisemitic flyers at their doorsteps. According to the Brentwood
Community Council, neighborhoods in which flyers were found include the northern portion of Brentwood Glen “I condemn in the strongest possible terms the antisemitic flyers distributed in Brentwood and Pacific Palisades over the weekend. These recent incidents follow a string of antisemitic acts that have shocked and appalled our community. We need the Department of Justice to help local law enforcement track down those responsible for these flyers, and to address the antisemitism that is on the rise here and all over the country. We have to hold perpetrators accountable and prevent these incidents. I stand in solidarity with our Jewish neighbors and urge the FBI to do more to keep our community safe,” Lieu said. In recent years, similar incidents have occurred in Beverly Hills, Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, and other areas in the region. In addition. In December 2019, the Nessah Synagogue, a Persian Jewish congregation in Beverly Hills, was vandalized, resulting in damage to the sanctuary and several Jewish relics. Days after, three Los Angeles Jewish schools were tagged with antisemitic graffiti. According to police reports, a swastika and hateful messages, including the phrase “time to pay,”
were found spray painted at the American Jewish University in Bel Air, the Westwood Charter School, and Milken Community High School. Similarly, in January 2022, antisemitic fliers were found at seven elementary and middle schools in Santa Monica. “I am deeply concerned because if these acts continue to happen without appropriate
consequences, they will eventually lead to violence,” Lieu said. “I am committed to rooting out the kind of intolerance and bigotry that leads to these kinds of hateful acts. I will continue to work with local Jewish leaders, elected officials, and law enforcement to address anti-Semitism in our community.”
Flag Ceremony Held to Honor LA County Lifeguard Derek Traeger
September 6 held at the Venice Lifeguard station By Dolores Quintana
On September 6, the Los Angeles County Fire Department held a flag ceremony to honor the life and career of Ocean Lifeguard Derek Traeger of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Lifeguard Division who served the County of Los Angeles for six years. The ceremony was held at the Venice Lifeguard station, A23, where Traeger served much his time with the department. Traeger had last been assigned to the north portion of Santa Monica beach. After a presentation from uniformed officers of the LA Fire Department Honor Guard and a short prayer, Lifeguard Traeger was eulogized by the ranking member of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. He said, praising Traeger’s service, “it is in these small images taken far and wide in rapid bursts of the camera’s shutter, wherever it happened to
land, that we see Derek Traeger. When I say that Derek lived with abandon, I say that he is the man his family raised and, in so far as it is possible for a man to abandon self for focus on others.” Six uniformed members of the LA County Fire Department lowered the station’s flag and reverently folded it while the speaker detailed the meaning of the flag folding ceremony. After a salute to the flag, it was presented to Traeger’s parents. After the moving presentation, a bagpipe player from the Los Angeles County Pipes and Drums played a rendition of Amazing Grace while three fire float boats sprayed ocean water into the air in tribute. Finally, a Lifeguard rescue vehicle sounded the vehicle siren one last time in tribute. Derek Traeger died on August 14 in a motorcycle collision. In a statement, the Los Angeles Country Fire Department said, “OL Traeger understood better than most what it means to wear the red trunks. His passion for life, art, the ocean, and his lifeguard family was evident in every moment he lived.”