New York resident Aleksandr Binyaminov was attacked by a man who said he was Palestinian and went into Binyaminov’s yard to remove an Israeli flag, the New York Police Department said on Wednesday.
Binyaminov, who lives in Long Island’s Nassau County, said he was alerted by his home security system that someone was at his house and he looked at footage of the front of his house to find the culprit trying to steal his Israeli flag.
Binyaminov approached the man, who police said was Bechir Lehbeib, 26, and told him to stop tampering with his property. Lehbeib, who arrived in the US from Mexico in November, immediately began attacking Binyaminov as soon as the homeowner confronted him.
“He basically got me in a choke position, threw me on the floor, and head-butted me. He was saying, ‘I’m from Palestine. You’re killing [Palestinians],’” Binyaminov said.
Lehbieb later allegedly told police that he hated Israeli Jews and made other hateful statements targeted at Jews, the New York Post reported. Officials said they aren’t sure of Lehbeib’s country of origin, but said they believe he migrated from somewhere in the northern part of Africa.
“If I see the flag of the people that killed my people, we will have a problem,” Lehbieb told the arresting officers when he was being detained, according to police.
Jews, Israelis under attack
Antisemitic attacks – both verbal and physical – have greatly increased since the onset of Israel’s war against Hamas.
US antisemitic incidents have increased 360% in the three months since October 7 compared to the same period in the year prior, totaling 3,283 incidents in only three months, the ADL announced in a January 2024 report.
These incidents include 60 incidents of physical assault, 553 incidents of vandalism, 1,353 incidents of verbal or written harassment, and 1,317 rallies, including antisemitic rhetoric, expressions of support for terrorism against the state of Israel, and/or anti-Zionism.
“The American Jewish community is facing a threat level that’s now unprecedented in modern history. It's shocking that we’ve recorded more antisemitic acts in three months than we usually would in an entire year,” expressed ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.
Of the total number of incidents, at least 505 occurred on college campuses, and another 246 were reported in K-12 schools. At least 628 incidents were reported against Jewish institutions, such as synagogues and community centers. About two-thirds of the incidents could be directly related to the Israel-Hamas war.
"We are deeply concerned by the dramatic increase in antisemitic incidents around the world over the past three weeks," Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism (SEAS) warned in a late-October statement.