Mayor Vows to Press for $5,000 Reward : Bradley Assails Anti-Semitic Vandalism

At a press conference attended by San Fernando Valley Jewish leaders, Mayor Tom Bradley said Monday that he will push for a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those who vandalized three North Hollywood synagogues last week.

Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Ron Frankle announced at the press conference that two juveniles have been arrested for recently spraying anti-Semitic graffiti on two West Valley synagogues and a community center under construction.

Bradley, joined by Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, called for stiffer penalties for those who commit acts of religious violence.

Both officials urged residents to be more vigilant in watching out for and reporting what have been called “hate crimes.”

The mayor said he has directed the Los Angeles Police Department’s Anti-Terrorism Division to investigate the wave of anti-Semitic vandalism in North Hollywood and promised increased patrolling of affected neighborhoods.

Over two days last week, vandals used rocks, cinder blocks and BB shot to break windows at Shaarey Zadek Congregation on Chandler Boulevard, where the press conference was held, at Temple Beth Hillel on Riverside Drive, and at Chabad of North Hollywood. Also damaged was a plate glass window at Roz Kosher Meats in Sherman Oaks.

Probe Promised

Bradley promised a probe “to determine if these and other recent incidents are the work of an organized group.”

Reiner said the North Hollywood vandalism was “not simply the harmless pranks of kids. These are hate-inspired acts clearly designed to intimidate ethnic and religious minorities and violate their civil rights.”

However, the juveniles charged with spray-painting anti-Semitic slogans in the West Valley were “almost certainly not part of a group or conspiracy,” Deputy Chief Frankle said in an interview.

Because of the distance between the two outbreaks of vandalism and the sharply higher degree of destruction in the North Hollywood incidents, Frankle said, he saw “almost no possibility that they were the work of the same people.”

The Los Angeles office of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith reported last week that about 20 incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism have occurred in the Valley since the beginning of the year.

Most of the destruction has been directed at the Valley’s 35 Jewish temples, said Jonathan Bernstein, assistant director of the local ADL office.

Since 1981, a downward trend in anti-Semitic incidents has been reported in the state and nation.