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LOS ANGELES<\/strong> – Hanukkah celebrations continue across Los Angeles this week under heightened security as Jewish communities gather amid growing safety concerns fueled by recent violent and hate-motivated attacks around the world.<\/p>\n Hundreds of people gathered Monday night in the Beverly Glen neighborhood, singing and dancing under the watch of private security officers stationed nearby.<\/p>\n “Over my dead body \u2014 literally over my dead body \u2014 would they be able to stop me from being here tonight,” said Abigail Goldberg, who attended the celebration.<\/p>\n Many families said they were determined to celebrate despite fears sparked by recent attacks targeting Jewish communities internationally.<\/p>\n “I know a lot of people were concerned about coming out,” said Colin Hakamian, another attendee. “Knowing we have a strong FBI presence, I feel protected and safe enough to come out here.”<\/p>\n The increased security comes after a deadly shooting over the weekend at a Hanukkah celebration in Australia\u2019s Bondi Beach. At least 16 people were killed and dozens more injured in what authorities described as an attack targeting the Jewish community.<\/p>\n Closer to home, police in Redlands are investigating a hate crime after surveillance video showed someone firing airsoft-BBs at Hanukkah decorations while yelling antisemitic slurs.<\/p>\n “We believe that simply looking at a Jewish house with Jewish decorations, a group of people looked at it and said, \u2018We just don\u2019t like that,\u2019” said Dr. Roger Cohen, the homeowner.<\/p>\n Despite the incident, the family is choosing to leave their decorations up.<\/p>\n “The whole thing about Hanukkah is standing up for who you are despite oppression,” said Heftsibah Cohen, a member of the household.<\/p>\n In Los Angeles, the LAPD joined community members in a show of solidarity by lighting a menorah alongside Joseph Alexander, a 103-year-old Holocaust survivor.<\/p>\n “Hanukkah is a very important celebration,” Alexander said.<\/p>\n Rabbi Chaim Mentz of Chabad of Bel Air said the turnout at Monday\u2019s celebration in Beverly Glen reflected the community\u2019s resolve following recent attacks.<\/p>\n “Look at this crowd,” Mentz said. “After what happened in Bondi, people are coming in droves.”<\/p>\n Law enforcement agencies across Los Angeles said they are increasing patrols at places of worship and religious gatherings throughout the holiday season.<\/p>\n Community leaders said the message of Hanukkah remains one of resilience.<\/p>\n “We have to be strong. We cannot cower to this,” Mentz said. “Hanukkah is the time we bring light into the streets. The flame did not go out.”<\/p>\n Religion<\/a>Los Angeles County<\/a>Los Angeles<\/a>Beverly Glen<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES – Hanukkah celebrations continue across Los Angeles this week under heightened security as Jewish communities gather…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":450658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[207075,1582,276,2961,26074,224,6080,5337,50,365,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-450657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-beverly-glen","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-los-angeles-county","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-county","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-religion","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115728597331163667","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}