A night out in Laguna Beach, California, turned into a nightmare for 28-year-old Israeli-American Roi Gross. While leaving a nightclub with three friends, Gross became embroiled in a heated argument with two men who reportedly identified as “Palestinian-Iranian.” The verbal altercation escalated, with accusations against Israel and criticism of the Gaza conflict, before taking a violent turn.
According to witnesses, one of the suspects allegedly got into his car and drove toward Gross and his friends, striking two of them. Gross sustained a broken leg and was rushed to the hospital, where he underwent surgery and is awaiting another operation. Authorities have arrested several individuals connected to the incident, including one of Gross’s friends, and are investigating it as a potential antisemitic hate crime.
“This is the first time I’ve experienced such violence,” Gross, a former IDF soldier who moved to the U.S. in 2014, shared. “We tried to avoid confrontation, but the suspect acted maliciously, with clear intent to harm.”
In another alarming incident, a yeshiva student in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood was stabbed in the neck near a prominent community venue. The victim was hospitalized in moderate but stable condition, while the suspect fled the scene.
Local police, collaborating with community volunteers, are examining security footage to identify the attacker, described as a young white male, as antisemitic violence continues to rise across the U.S. amidst the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
* Ynet contributed to this article.
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