A migrant from North Africa was charged with assault and robbery as a hate crime for allegedly removing a Long Island man’s Israeli flag and then beating him up in front of his neighbors.
The violent incident occurred around 1 p.m. Sunday, when Aleksandr Binyaminov heard his Ring doorbell go off and saw a random stranger walking away from his Hewlett house with two of his flags. One was was an Israeli-American flag and another one said "We Stand with Israel."
"When I grabbed the flag away from him, he was saying ‘I’m from Palestine, you Jews are killing Palestinians,'" Binyaminov recalled.
The man, who police have identified as 26-year-old Bechir Lehbeib, walked away from Binyaminov and made an obscene gesture on video. Lehbeib had walked several houses away when Binyaminov caught up to him on his child’s bicycle.
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On video, Binyaminov confronts Lehbeib who punches him in the head. The two then begin to fight.
“He punched me in the face gave me black and blue put me in a choke hold and he headbutted me, that’s how I got a black eye,” Binyaminov explained.
The flag was put up after Oct. 7, in honor of a relative of Binyaminov's wife who he said died when Hamas attacked Israel.
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"The subject continued to swing wildly and struggle with the victim and threw the victim to the ground," said Nassau County Deputy Police Commissioner Kevin Smith.
In regards to the incident, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said simply, "This insanity has to stop."
At a news conference, the county executive and Republican elected officials blasted border policies for the incident.
"Living in America, I never thought this would happen to me. As a Jew, we live here happily. Feels a little bit disgusting that this happened to us, these hate crimes should be stopped," said Binyaminov.
Lehbeig was ordered held on $50,000 bail and the judge agreed with prosecutors when they asked that his passport be taken away.
