In a news release Saturday, the Los Angeles Police Department described the man as “one of the primary suspects in the assault and beating of several men” outside a restaurant on Tuesday evening.
Police said they arrested the man Friday night with the help of the US Marshal Service, thanks to tips from the public that helped identify the suspect. He was arrested outside the city without incident, the release added.
Police have asked for the suspect’s bail to be enhanced “due to the crime being motivated by hatred,” the release said, and when the case is presented to the District Attorney’s Office, LAPD detectives will seek additional hate crime charges.
The man said a group of men who appeared to be pro-Palestinian exited their vehicle and began attacking his friends and he attempted to fight back.
Video obtained by CNN showed a number of cars driving past the restaurant that appeared to match the description provided by police with passengers waving Palestinian flags and exchanging anti-Israel slogans and swear words with people outside the restaurant.
A woman who said she was dining at the restaurant told CNN that the people in the cars began throwing bottles at them and yelled anti-Semitic slurs, including the words “dirty Jew.”
“We watched from the window as the guys sitting at the table next to us got beat up while they (the aggressors) were asking ‘who’s Jewish’ and screaming ‘dirty Jew’ and ‘Israel kills children’ and ‘death to Israel,'” she said.
Local leaders condemned the attack in Los Angeles this week, with Mayor Eric Garcetti writing on Twitter, “Jewish Angelenos, like all residents, should always feel safe in our city,” and that the officials would “respond with the full force of the law.”
CNN’s Sarah Moon, Stella Chan, Hollie Silverman and Nicole Chavez contributed to this report.