A Tarrant County jury on Thursday rejected the county’s argument that a man who spray-painted anti-Israel graffiti on a church in Euless had committed a hate crime.
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The jury found activist Raunaq Alam guilty of vandalism and will now determine his punishment. The case drew international attention for raising questions about whether criticism of the state of Israel, and its offensive in Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 attacks, is antisemitic.
Alam initially faced a misdemeanor charge for damage under $750 for vandalism, according to Tarrant County court records. Prosecutors then elevated the charges to a felony hate crime, which carries a potential prison sentence of two to 10 years. The state’s indictment argued Alam acted out of bias or prejudice against “the state of Israel or the Jewish faith.”
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He was accused of spray-painting “F— Israel” and three downward-facing red triangles on a wall of Uncommon Church, a nondenominational church in Euless.
The prosecution argued Alam, along with two other suspects who are set to stand trial separately, also placed stickers on church doors and on a flagpole of a 30-foot-wide Israeli flag on church grounds.
Family members of Raunaq Alam and others wait outside the courtroom in Fort Worth to urge prosecutors to drop the hate crime charges he faces. (Steve Nurenberg / Special Contributor)
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Prosecutor Lloyd Whelchel argued in court that those actions amounted to “terrorism — trying to stop people from having a different opinion,” according to KERA. Whelchel brought in as a witness Syracuse University religion professor Zachary Braiterman, who specializes in modern Jewish thought. Braiterman argued that being against the country of Israel as a whole was antisemitic.
Barry Trachtenberg, the Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History at Wake Forest University, testified for the defense.
“If Raunaq is found guilty of a hate crime, it means fundamentally that the state of Texas does not understand what antisemitism is,” he told KERA after proceedings ended Wednesday. “It means that it has declared war on people who are protesting a genocide.”
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Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, killing about 1,200, mostly civilians. Forty-eight hostages are still inside Gaza, around 20 of them believed to be alive, according to The Associated Press.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,522 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says around half of those killed were women and children.
The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties, according to the AP. Israel disputes its figures.
Large parts of major cities have been completely destroyed, and around 90% of the population of about 2 million Palestinians has been displaced. Israeli leaders support the mass relocation of Palestinians from Gaza and have rendered much of it uninhabitable, according to The Associated Press.
The International Court of Justice, the principal judicial body of the United Nations, is currently deliberating over whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. It ruled last January that the allegation was “plausible.”