Community on Edge After Two Jewish Angelenos Murdered in the Valley Saturday
Police are investigating the homicides of two Israeli men found dead in their San Fernando Valley homes on Saturday in what appears to be unrelated incidents that left two businessmen dead, including the brother of an Israeli politician.LAPD officers were called to a home on the 22200 block of De La Osa Street in Woodland Hills just before 1 a.m. on Saturday, April 26 where they discovered the body of 47-year-old Alexander Modebadze, who had been brutally beaten and suffered severe head trauma. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The LAPD, with agents from the FBI's Fugitive Task Force, soon tracked three men down in connection with the vicious attack: Paata Kochyashvili, 38; Zaza Otarashvili, 46, and Besiki Khutsishvili, 52. A motive was not immediately available, according to the LAPD, who did announce that the men held him captive, assaulted him, and stole property from his home.
Later that day, at 2:30 p.m., police were called to an apartment on the 12600 block of Riverside Drive in Valley Village, to conduct a welfare check after relatives were unable to reach the resident. Upon arrival, they found the body of businessman Meni Hidhra, the brother of Nitzan Prison Warden Moshe Hidhra in Israel, according to the Jewish Journal.
While the cases do not seem to be related at this time, the Jewish community is on edge. "It's terrifying. These do seem like targeted attacks," said Jennifer Feldman, 28, of Valley Village. "Two men with ties to Israel killed on the same day feels frightening to say the least." Last week the Anti-Defamation League released a report showing a staggering uptick in antisemitic crimes in 2024.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Hamas threats to aid staff reason for halted food distribution, GHF says
The organization claimed "Hamas wants to return to a broken system it once controlled and exploited—diverting aid, manipulating distribution, and putting its own agenda." The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation announced on Saturday that the reason for temporarily pausing operations was due to threats against the organization and its staff by Hamas. "Hamas is the reason hundreds of thousands of hungry Gazans were not fed today. The group issued direct threats against GHF operations. These threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk," the statement read. "Hamas wants to return to a broken system it once controlled and exploited—diverting aid, manipulating distribution, and putting its own agenda ahead of the Palestinian people's basic needs. However, GHF will not be deterred. "We remain committed to safe, secure, and independent aid delivery. We are actively adapting our operations to overcome these threats and fully intend to resume distributions without delay." Aid distribution in Gaza was halted on Friday after the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations, in the latest disruption to its troubled relief effort. In a day of confusing messaging, the GHF first announced its distribution sites in southern Gaza were closed, then it revealed that it had actually handed out food, before saying that it had had to close its gates as a precautionary measure. "The distribution was conducted peacefully and without incident; however, it was paused due to excessive crowding that made it unsafe to proceed," it said in a statement.
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Lipstick vandalism? The latest Boise-area attack on a Tesla involved makeup
A 2024 Tesla Cybertruck was given an extreme makeover about 1:50 p.m. Wednesday in the Boise area, after a vandal smeared lipstick across the truck's stainless steel surface. The suspect, who was seen arriving in a red sedan, is suspected of causing an estimated $500 worth of damage to the vehicle, according to a news release from the Meridian Police Department. Police reported that they had identified a suspect by Friday afternoon. The lipstick was used to draw on the side of the Tesla Cybertruck, but what was drawn and the shade of lipstick were not disclosed in the news release. This crime comes amid a long string of Tesla-related vandalisms, one of which occurred in April and involved $100,000 in damages after an individual vandalized vehicles and property at the Tesla dealership in Meridian. The FBI was contacted during that incident. In a survey of more than 500 Tesla owners, conducted by Guardian Service, an online insurer, it was determined that nearly half reported instances of intentional damage to their vehicle. Moreover, as tensions continue to rise between those who own Tesla cars and those who oppose Elon Musk, nearly three-fourths of Tesla owners who responded feel as though they are more likely to be victims of targeted vehicle-related vandalism than those who don't drive Teslas.
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Iran says it obtained sensitive Israeli nuclear documents
DUBAI (Reuters) -Iranian intelligence agencies have obtained a large trove of sensitive Israeli documents, some related to the nuclear plans and facilities of Tehran's arch enemy, Iran's state media reported on Saturday. There was no immediate official comment from Israel and it was not clear whether the report was linked to a reported hacking of an Israeli nuclear research centre last year that Tehran is choosing to divulge now amid heightened tensions over its nuclear programme. "Although the operation to obtain the documents was carried out some time ago, the sheer volume of materials and the need to transport them safely into Iran necessitated a news blackout to ensure they reached the designated protected locations," state-run PressTV reported, quoting unnamed sources. "(Sources familiar with the matter) also noted that the abundance of documents is so vast that reviewing them, along with viewing images and videos, has consumed a significant amount of time," PressTV added, without giving details of the documents. In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israeli agents had seized a huge "archive" of Iranian documents showing Tehran had done more nuclear work than previously known. U.S President Donald Trump has threatened Iran with bombing if Tehran did not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear programme. But Trump in April reportedly blocked a planned Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites in favour of negotiating a deal with Tehran. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that abandoning uranium enrichment was "100%" against the country's interests, rejecting a central U.S. demand in talks to resolve a decades-long dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
