How a Non-Muslim Supporter of Palestine Became Target of Islamophobic Attack
The man, who was wearing a keffiyeh, a scarf that symbolizes solidarity with the Palestinian people, was with his 18-month-old son when the incident occurred some two weeks ago.
“Anyone who knows me knows that this scarf is around my neck,” Prashar said, Spectrum News reported on Thursday.
“I wear it like two thirds of the year, until it gets too cold where you need a heavier scarf.”
The design and colors are known to represent solidarity with the Palestinian people. The scarf was a gift from a woman in the West Bank back when Prashar worked as an adviser for Middle East Peace Envoy and Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.
He recorded a video, of what police say, is an attack on him and his 18-month-old son in Fort Greene’s Edmonds Playground.
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“As an adult, you expect bad things can happen to you,” Prashar said. “But the sadness really in this is that he had to experience this, that he, at 18 months, had to go through that trauma, and that is something no child should have to deal with that young.”
He says the woman threw a hot drink on him and accused him of supporting Hamas.
“She targeted me because of my keffiyeh, and because of the color of my skin, it’s plain and simple, that is whatever you want to frame it, it’s a hate crime,” he said.
Police and prosecutors agree. They’re charging 48-year-old Brooklyn resident Hadasa Bozakkaravani with multiple crimes including assault, harassment and menacing as hate crimes.
"This scarf is so viscerally being connected to people of Muslim descent, clearly Islamophobic, but it’s a hate crime against all communities of color,” Prashar said.
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He’s now been living in the US for about a decade and hopes to reclaim the park where the incident occurred. But believes the outpouring of support he’s received has helped bring the community together.
Prashar said he received an outpouring of support from the community and hoped to reclaim the park where the attack happened. He said he and his wife have been more cautious with their son when he plays outdoors.
Source: Agencies
