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Jewish Israeli Cybertruck Owner Calls for Hate Crime Charge After Swastika Drawn on Car in Brooklyn
March 12, 2025, Seattle, Washington, USA: A row of brand-new Tesla Cybertrucks stands in a Tesla Motors Logistics Drop Zone in Seattle, Washington, USA, on Wed., March 12, 2025. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
The Jewish Israeli owner of a Tesla Cybertruck said the man who scrawled a swastika message on his electric car in Brooklyn should face a hate crime charge.
“The police, the DA [district attorney], and the city should charge people like this and should prosecute people like this,” Avi Ben Hamo, 45, told “Fox & Friends” on Monday. He said that people like the man who targeted his car need to face consequences for their actions, adding that “otherwise, other people are not going to be safe and Jewish people are not going to be safe in the city.”
Ben Hamo described the incident as an act of antisemitism and said, “as a Jew, I don’t feel safe anymore in Brooklyn or New York.”
The side view mirror of Ben Hamo’s car had a sticker on it that featured the message “Happy Purim” in Hebrew, in honor of the Jewish holiday that took place on Friday. In broad daylight on Thursday, a fellow Jewish man drew a message on Ben Hamo’s Cybertruck that equated Tesla CEO and US Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk, who also serves as a senior advisor to President Donald Trump, with a swastika. The message said “Elon” and below his name was the equal sign. Underneath that was the Nazi symbol.
Ben Hamo had parked his Cybertruck on Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights and while standing on the sidewalk, he saw the suspect double-park his Subaru, exit the vehicle, approach Ben Hamo’s car, and then proceed to scribble in dust on the driver’s door the hate message. Ben Hamo quickly ran over and confronted the man.
“I saw this guy messing with my car, I don’t know what was going on, and then I saw this very antisemitic swastika on the car,” Ben Hamo told “Fox & Friends” during an appearance on the show. “I approached [the suspect] and asked him, ‘What are you doing?’ and he told me very, very disgusting things. And he tried to run away.”
Ben Hamo blocked the suspect’s car from driving away from the scene while the Cybertruck owner called the police. Ben Hamo said the man tried to run him over with his car in an attempt to flee the scene. The latter then got out of the car, ran away on foot from the area, and came back an hour and a half later. At that point, police had arrived and arrested him on suspicion of aggravated harassment. He was later released from custody and not charged. He was later identified as 42-year-old Michael Lewis.
A lawyer for the suspect told “Fox & Friends” on Monday that Lewis “deeply regrets touching the other man’s car and using a hate symbol in the message.”
“He was dealing with a host of personal issues at the time and the action was out of character,” attorney Mark Luccarelli added. “He was released from custody without any charges because no damage was done to the vehicle and no crime was committed.”
Tesla vehicles, dealerships, and charging stations have recently been vandalized, destroyed and even set on fire around the US by those protesting Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency and its slashing of government spending, which has led to major federal job cuts.
Thursday’s incident targeting Ben Hamo’s car is at least the third attack on a Cybertruck in New York City in recent days, according to the New York Post. “People hating Elon Musk is one thing, but to do something like this is next level. I’m speechless,” Ben Hamo told the publication. “That’s just wrong. I don’t understand how someone thinks because I bought a car it gives them the authorization to do this.”
The post Jewish Israeli Cybertruck Owner Calls for Hate Crime Charge After Swastika Drawn on Car in Brooklyn first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.