CHANUKAH 5786 Sec. A, P9
Jewish Family Services’ 2025 annual fundraiser, “Faces of JFS,” was the target of pro-Palestinian sympathizers who interrupted the event several times with anti-Israel hate speech.
The event on Nov. 12 at the Infinity Park Event Center in Glendale featured political activist and commentator Van Jones, in a conversation moderated by former ADL Mountain States director Scott Levin.
In a Nov. 14 message distributed by the Secure Community Network, SCN regional security advisor Kevin Farrington disclosed that 10 members of an anti-Israel group pre-registered to attend the event under assumed names.
“When the guest speaker began his presentation,” Farrington’s report stated, “these individuals proceeded to disrupt his remarks in groups of two, with one individual verbally disrupting the speaker while the second individual filmed the disruption.
“When police removed the agitator for trespassing, there were several minutes of quiet and then the next group of two would continue the disruption. This proceeded for five iterations.
“The verbal disruptions included pro-Palestine/anti-Israel vitriol and included ‘free Palestine’ and references to the speaker/Jews as ‘Gaza baby killers.’
“Of note, the agitators seemed intensely focused on the guest speaker and his political stances, rather than just the Jewish community.
“This agitator group filmed these incidents to not only capture the disruption, but also to capture any aggressive and/or violent response from event attendees, as well as document the manner and conduct of the law enforcement interaction.”
Video of the protests were posted on the social media platform X, disseminated by Turkish/German media distributor Fokus.
“Gazans are starving because of people like Van Jones,” one of the protesters screamed as he was escorted out of the event.
The reference was to a televised comment Jones previously made on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” when Jones called online videos of dead babies killed in Gaza, a “disinformation campaign.”
“If you are a young person, you open up your phone, and all you see is ‘Dead Gazan babies, dead Gazan babies, dead Gazan babies,” Jones said in the interview.
Another activist yelled: “On behalf of the dead Gazan babies, shame on you, Van Jones.”
JFS addressed the incident on Nov. 19 on Facebook:
“JFS acknowledges the disruption during the Faces of JFS event. Our team, along with security personnel and the Glendale police, responded quickly to ensure the safety of all attendees.
“JFS does not condone acts of violence, and we continue to work with authorities.”
Farrington’s memo concluded:
“This agitator group was well organized and focused. However, this incident re-iterated multiple event security best practice considerations.”
The event raised $650,000, the most successful of “Faces of JFS” fundraisers to date.
