A Tarrant County jury found Raunaq Alam guilty of vandalizing a church in Euless, but they decided he did not commit a hate crime in doing so.
Alam was arrested for allegedly spray painting 鈥淔*** Israel鈥� and putting pro-Palestinian stickers on a church in Euless. Prosecutors also added a hate crime enhancement, which the jury rejected. The jury will now decide his punishment.
The trial started Monday, bringing debate over hundreds of years of world history into a Tarrant County courtroom.
Alam鈥檚 attorney, Adwoa Asante, argued he is a pro-Palestinian activist who was condemning the actions of a foreign government, not attacking Jewish people. The church was flying an Israeli flag at the time of the vandalism.
"Raunaq is here because the government hates what he believes in," she said during her closing argument Thursday.
Tarrant County prosecutors made the case that Alam acted out of hatred for Israel and Jewish people, and that criticism of Israel is linked with antisemitism.
Alam's vandalism was not an act of civil disobedience, like Rosa Parks refusing to move from her bus seat, prosecutor Lloyd Whelchel said.
"This is terrorism 鈥� trying to stop people from having a different opinion," he said.
Both sides brought in opposing experts on modern Judaism, who disagreed on whether the vandalism was antisemitic.
Syracuse University professor Zachary Braiterman testified for the prosecution, saying it's possible to criticize Israel's government, but being against the country as a whole is antisemitic.
He was scared by one sticker, which had the Nazi flag placed above the Israeli flag, he said.
鈥淭his, to me, is a degree of verbal and ideational violence that makes me shudder and actually terrifies me,鈥� he said.
The defense argued that sticker was comparing the actions of two governments that have committed genocide. Several groups in its ongoing war in Gaza. The Israeli government denies the charge.
Barry Trachtenberg, a professor of Jewish history at Wake Forest University, testified for the defense. He said he did not think the graffiti was antisemitic, and that the state's prosecution of Alam is racist.
"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 四虎影院 after court proceedings Wednesday. "It means that it has declared war on people who are protesting a genocide.
The war in Gaza began after a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023 killed 1,200 people, and militants . Since then, the war has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, , and the World Health Organization .
Around the U.S., the war has inspired student protests and government crackdown. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened an antisemitism investigation into Plano ISD for allegedly allowing pro-Palestine walkouts. The federal government has threatened some pro-Palestine university students .
Alam's trial has been filled with supporters all week. Deb Armintor, one of the founders of the DFW chapter of the pro-Palestine group Jewish Voice for Peace, testified on Alam's behalf.
"I hope that this sets powerful precedent that no state can get away with abusing their power to turn criticism of the state of Israel 鈥� whether spoken, whether spray painted on public property, whether spray painted on private property, whether carved on a tree 鈥� can possibly be a hate crime," she said.
The jury is scheduled to determine Alam's sentence Friday.
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