The necessity of porch cameras speaks of the rise in crime, usually burglars seeking to steal packages or break into homes. This past Sunday, a Hewlett homeowner had his pro-Israel flag stolen and the act was captured on camera.
“I got dressed, came out. I confronted him,” Aleksandr Binyaminov told the New York Post. “I told him, ‘Give me the flags,’ and he just started fighting with me and punching me in my face.”
He chased Bechir Lehbeib, 26, down the block and the fight escalated. “I’m from Palestine. You’re killing Jews,” he allegedly said to Binyaminov. Police arrived within six minutes, arresting him as he continued blaming Jews for the suffering of Palestinians.
“The victim reports being battered about the face repeatedly and being headbutted during the course of the altercation, all of which caused contusions, swelling, and substantial pain to his head,” said First Deputy Nassau County Police Commissioner Kevin Smith.
The attack took place in the context of the Israel-Hamas war that inflamed tensions in America with an uptick in antisemitic incidents, many of them caused by Arab and Muslim individuals targeting Jews. It also relates to the border crisis in which a record number of undocumented migrants have entered this country, bound for New York, where the city is offering them shelter and assistance.
Lehbeib identified himself as Palestinian from North Africa, with law enforcement noting that he arrived in the country illegally through the Mexican border.
“Our federal government will not protect our borders, our state government has laws that make it less safe and where criminals have more rights than victims,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said at a press conference on Tuesday, flanked by his colleagues and law enforcement officials.
“These migrants aren’t people kissing the ground when they come to America. They’re spitting on our flag,” he later tweeted.
In contrast to the migrants released without bail after punching police officers in Times Square last week, Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly requested $200,000 bail for Lehbeib, an order of protection and for his passport. The bail was set at $50,000 with the order of protection and confiscation of his passport. “Hate crimes have no place in Nassau County,” Donnelly said.
Blakeman added that his county does not offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants, marking the contrast with New York City, where the suspect was living in a hotel operating as a shelter.
The combination American-Israeli flag and poster inscribed “We stand with Israel” were restored to Binyaminov’s porch, as a statement of support and in memory of his wife’s cousins, who were murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Speaking from his experience as an immigrant, Binyaminov said that the country’s southern border should have more security with stricter vetting for immigrants. “I never thought this would happen with me,” he told CBS News. “As a Jew, we live here, all of us, happily without any problems. It feels a little bit disgusting that this happened to us.”
By Sergey Kadinsky
