LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Two men who pleaded no contest in a hate crime attack on two Jewish men outside a Beverly Grove-area restaurant were ordered Wednesday to complete 80 hours of counseling focusing on bias and cultural sensitivity along with an eight-hour program at the Museum of Tolerance.
Superior Court Judge Laura Priver also sentenced Samer Jayylusi, 37, and Xavier Pabon, 32, to two years of probation.
"The court does not condone or approve of this type of behavior ..." the judge said. "The court would like to dissuade them from this type of behavior."
She said she thought the counseling and Museum of Tolerance program was a better solution than sending the two to state prison as the prosecution had requested.
Jayylusi and Pabon pleaded no contest May 22 to two counts each of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury and admitted a hate crime allegation involving each of the counts, according to Deputy District Attorney Paul Kim.
The two were accused of approaching two men outside a restaurant on May 18, 2021, and attacking them because of their religion, according to a September 2021 statement released by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office after the two were charged.
Cell phone video showed a group of men exit a car and begin to attack the diners while yelling racial slurs.
Police said one minor injury was reported.
The two men were allegedly part of a caravan waving Palestinian flags in the 300 block of North La Cienega Boulevard on May 18, hours after a large protest in support of Palestinian rights amid violence between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Then-Mayor Eric Garcetti characterized what happened as an "organized, anti-Semitic attack."
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said the attack "appeared to spring from a roving band of vehicles that were seen flying flags within the Jewish-populated areas of Hollywood, West L.A., Mid-Wilshire, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills."
Jayylusi and Pabon were arrested within a week and subsequently freed on bond.