Less than 12 hours after a massive fire began ripping through the Pacific Palisades on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Fire Department made a rare request. All LAFD firefighters, including those off-duty, were asked to phone in their availability. Stoked by high winds, the blaze was growing quickly, and the LAFD was already fighting a losing battle. Such a summons hadn’t been issued in nearly two decades. 

Critics on social media have alleged that Mayor Karen Bass cut the city fire department’s budget by $23 million this year. The accusation has spread quickly, with many looking to cast blame for the devastating wildfires that have destroyed thousands of buildings in Los Angeles County this week and resulted in at least 4 deaths.

In her story on criticism’s of Mayor Bass during this crisis, reporter Linh Tat addressed the budget question.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass faced scorching criticism Wednesday as it was revealed she cut the city’s fire department budget by $17.6 million ahead of this week’s devastating fires — as she prioritized funds for its massive homeless population that largely went unspent, according to a report.

The cut was the second-largest in Bass’ 2024-25 fiscal budget, city figures show — and it wasn’t even the gutting she wanted.

If she’d had it her way, the LAFD budget would have been slashed by $23 million.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has been besieged on all fronts. She doesn’t have many friends now, partially because wildfires ravaged the county, and she was AWOL when they began. Ms. Bass was in Ghana when the fires broke out, attending the inauguration of that country’s next president. 

A pro-Palestinian protest held outside a Los Angeles synagogue devolved into chaotic street violence with pro-Israel counter-protesters on Sunday in an incident that several officials, including President Joe Biden, criticized as antisemitic.

The Los Angeles Police Department said it responded to two protests Sunday in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Pico Robertson, just south of Beverly Hills. Videos taken at the scene show police pushing pro-Palestinian protesters away from the entrance of the Adas Torah temple, an Orthodox synagogue.

Violent clashes broke out Sunday between pro- and anti-Israel demonstrators in Los Angeles after the latter held a protest outside the Adas Torah synagogue, where an Israeli real estate fair was being held.

According to the LA Times, one person was arrested for allegedly carrying a “spiked flag.”

CBS News reported that police officers with weapons drawn detained two people who were shouting at protesters from a car. Officers were seen taking a toddler from the vehicle.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) were silent Sunday after an antisemitic mob targeted the Adas Torah synagogue in the Jewish neighborhood of Pico-Robertson.

Update: After this story was published (8:37 p.m. PT), Newsom (10:16 p.m.) and then Bass (10:27 p.m.) responded:

As Breitbart News reported, dozens of pro-Palestinian activists blocked the entrance to the synagogue to prevent members of the Jewish community from attending a meeting about purchasing real estate in Israel.