Skinhead Held in Attack on Hasidic Jew

A self-proclaimed skinhead was in custody Wednesday after allegedly attacking a Hasidic Jew with a pipe on a West Hollywood street.

The 19-year-old victim, Zev Katz of Miami, was struck once in the stomach Tuesday before he and a group of friends subdued the assailant. The attack took place about 9:15 p.m. near a synagogue where Katz and his friends are working as counselors at a summer camp for Russian immigrant children.

“The guy came out of nowhere yelling, ‘I hate Jews! I’ll kill you!’ ” said Katz, a rabbinical student, who was treated by paramedics for a minor bruise.

Sheriff’s deputies said the suspect, who refuses to identify himself, appears to be about 18. He was being held at the West Hollywood sheriff’s station Wednesday in lieu of $150,000 bail and was booked on suspicion of committing a hate crime and assault with a deadly weapon.

Sheriff’s spokesman Rich Erickson said the suspect told investigators that he is a skinhead.

Katz said he and fellow counselors at the Chabad Russian Synagogue’s summer camp were sitting in a car parked outside an apartment they share, waiting for other friends. “Everything was quiet and peaceful and then I hear this guy beside the car shouting vulgarities and anti-Semitic expressions at us,” Katz said. “It was frightening.”

Katz said he got out of the car on the driver’s side and that the attacker began swinging a three-foot-long pipe and a screwdriver at him as the others watched in horror.

“I grabbed the pipe and then somebody else grabbed the screwdriver, and (the attacker) began to run,” he said.

Katz said he and the others chased the suspect for about 150 feet and tackled him in an alley, where they sat on him until deputies arrived.

Rabbi Naftoli Estulin said Katz and the other counselors, who are from various parts of the country, arrived a few days ago.

“It’s a rude awakening to our normally peaceful neighborhood,” he said. “You read about this elsewhere, but so far we’ve had few problems. I would call it shocking.”