A man who was attacked with his pregnant wife at a suburban Panera Bread is speaking out after his alleged assailant was charged with a hate crime.
According to the DuPage County State's Attorney, a 64-year-old woman faces multiple charges, including a hate crime charge, after she allegedly verbally and physically assaulted a couple inside the restaurant in Downers Grove on Saturday.
The prosecution alleges that the woman attacked the couple because Waseem Zahran was wearing a hooded jacket with the word “Palestine” on it, and eventually tried to punch the man and his wife and throw hot coffee on them.
“She said ‘fuck Palestine’ (but) I didn’t know what she said,” Zahran told NBC Chicago. “So I was smiling at her and asking her what she said. I thought she said something nice to me. Then she came up to me and got in my face and said, ‘Are you Palestinian?’ I said yes, and then she said, ‘Fuck Palestine. This is not Palestine. It’s my land. It’s not your land.’”
Zahran said that his wife took out her phone and began recording the conversation, and the verbal confrontation escalated into a physical quarrel.
A woman has been charged with a hate crime after an incident over the weekend at a Panera Bread restaurant in suburban Chicago, where a man was wearing a jacket with the word “Palestine” written on it, officials said.
“And that's when she goes for her first swing. I blocked her, which made her even crazier.” “Then she proceeds to drink her hot coffee and tries to throw it at my wife. “I grabbed her and tried to get rid of her in case she did it again, which made her get even more angry and hit me on the side of the face.”
Zahran said that the woman tried to take the phone out of his wife’s hands and tried to punch her, but he was able to block the blow.
“Tell her my wife is pregnant,” he said. “‘Can you stop attacking us?’ She said ‘I don’t care’ and proceeded to attack me and my wife.”
After trying to move to another part of the restaurant and pursue him, Zahran said he told the woman that he would hit her if she continued to attack the couple, which ended the quarrel.
The footage was shared on social media, with the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations saying in a statement that the hatred shown in the video “cannot and will not have a home here.”
Zahran said he had been subjected to insults before, but described the physical assault as “shocking.” He also said no one tried to help the couple during the altercation.
“For there to be physical hatred, and for it to go on for more than a minute with no one coming to our aid, is kind of shocking, honestly,” he said. “I always wonder why no one does anything to stop (the war between Israel and Hamas). This is the same reason why no one helps us. People are just selfish. They like to help you afterwards and talk to you afterwards, not during. “It's the easy way out, honestly.”
He said he hopes his story will encourage people to intervene in similar situations.
“I think that's the one thing I want people to take away from this, is to help people be more vocal,” he said. “Even if it puts you in a difficult situation, do the right thing.”
The suspect is charged with a hate crime in this case, along with a misdemeanor for disorderly conduct, which Zahran welcomes. He said he had no intention of stopping wearing the hoodie bearing the word “Palestine” after the incident.
“I will always wear it and be proud of my heritage and who I am,” he said. “My sisters and mothers can't not wear the hijab. They have to wear the hijab every day, and they can't decide, 'I'm not going to wear this.' They'll still be attacked. It's the same reason I'm proud to wear this jacket. I think whether people agree or not, that's what I think it's true.
