​Some 1,200 Israel supporters flocked to a community solidarity rally outside the Los Angeles Federal building in West Los Angeles Sunday afternoon. Though largely peaceful, the demonstration’s conclusion was marred by violence when four Palestinian activists allegedly beat pro-Israel demonstrators with sticks, according to the Los Angeles Jewish Journal.

At the demonstration's start, pro-Israel demonstrators wrapped in American and Israeli flags and holding banners aloft cheered and chanted as cars drove by honking their horns in support of Israel's right to defend itself against the ongoing Hamas rocket launches into the country. As the day wore on, the numbers swelled until three corners of the busy intersection were flanked with a sea of blue and white.

Initially only a small contingent of around 25 Palestinian supporters waving a Palestinian flag passed through the Israeli phalanx to the opposite side of the street, where their numbers eventually swelled to some 200. This first confrontation between the two groups was brief but uneventful, with hundreds of Israel supporters chanting "Am Yisrael Chai" ("The People of Israel Live") while uniformed Los Angeles police kept them a safe distance apart.

However, as the rally was drawing to a close, the relative peace was shattered when a pickup truck carrying four men holding Palestinian flags and long wooden sticks arrived. The men, reportedly Palestinian citizens residing in Orange Country, California, allegedly attacked the pro-Israel demonstrators, according to the Los Angeles Jewish Journal.

The Journal reports a gun was fired at the truck by a Department of Homeland Security officer who was at the scene, according to Brian Thomas of the LAPD West Los Angeles Patrol Division. Later Sunday evening, the Journal updated its original story and wrote the four men were handcuffed and being held by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.

There have been a number of reports of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence in the past days, including at a pro-Gaza rally in Paris, where protesters trapped Jews inside a synagogue Sunday evening.

Organized by StandWithUs and the Israel American Committee, the Los Angeles event drew not just Jews, but many Christian supporters of Israel.

Consul General David Siegel, who also addressed the crowd, said afterwards that it was wonderful that people from all over Southern California came to the rally.

“There’s a need for people to be here together,” he said. “But more importantly, the people of Israel will hear that all across this country and hopefully around the world there will be statements of support from those who understand what Israel is going through.”

He added, “I think the moral case for Americans is very clear. When you say 80 percent of Israel is under fire people understand that that’s [the equivalent of] Philadelphia to Los Angeles. We have to hammer home that message that this is something that no one should accept and that Israel won’t accept.”