North Texas Activists Face Hate Crime Charges, Prison Time for Anti-Isreal Graffiti

A self-proclaimed “lifelong activist” will face a Tarrant County jury this month in a case that legal experts claim erodes the First Amendment rights of protesters and critics of the nation of Israel.

Raunaq Alam, 32, is accused of using spray paint to write the phrase “Fuck Israel” along the side of a non-denominational church in Euless in 2024. Tarrant County criminal records show Alam was initially charged with graffiti causing a loss of between $100 and $750, a Class B misdemeanor in Texas.

But Alam now faces between two and 10 years in prison for the graffiti after prosecutors upgraded the charges and the associated penalties using Texas’ hate crime statute. Alam is now charged with criminal mischief causing damage to a place of worship, a felony, and prosecutors now claim the financial burden of the graffiti costs more than was initially recorded in arrest records, The Guardian reports.

In Texas, punishments for certain crimes can be enhanced if the state can prove the crime stemmed from the offender's bias or prejudice toward a class’ protected characteristics, which can include race or ethnicity, religion, disability, or sexual orientation.

Alam’s trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8, and a second protester, Afsheen Khan, will face the same escalated graffiti charges in a Sept. 30 trial. A third activist, who has not been named, will be tried under the hate crime statute for the same Euless incident.

Whether or not Alam actually committed a hate crime through his criticism of Israel is legally dubious, defense attorney Adwoa Asante told The Guardian. Alam did not target a synagogue, and his spray paint did not single out a group protected under Texas’ hate crime statute.

“Nowhere in the statute does it cite governmental entities such as states as part of protected persons or group,” Asante said. “If citizens and persons within the United States are allowed to say and express ‘Fuck America’, why would the condemnation of a foreign country garner more enhanced prosecution from the state of Texas?”

In the nearly two years since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, U.S. institutions have reckoned with conflicting views of when anti-Israel speech constitutes antisemitism. Federal officials have stated that criticism of Israel has been used as a reason to deny or revoke visas for international students.

In May, Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 326 into law, which requires public schools and universities to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism in conduct hearings. The definition lists “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor,” “applying double standards by requiring of (Israel) a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation,” and “holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel,” as examples of antisemitism.

Before SB 326 was passed, some critics of the definition argued it offers “a dangerous conflation of the government of Israel and the Jewish people,” which will erode free speech protections.

Across the U.S., activists who helped organize pro-Palestine campus protests have faced escalated scrutiny and legal challenges. Asante said the upgraded charges in Alam’s case represent similar prosecutorial retribution.

“We don’t know if he’s guilty of this offense or not,” Asante told The Guardian. “It’s simply a matter of how far the government is going to silence and to repress anybody that opposes the genocide of Palestinians, so much so that they’re expanding what it means to engage in a hate crime.”

Alam and Khan’s cases are set to be prosecuted by Attorney Lloyd Whelchel, who has a background in capital murder trials but recently represented the state in a case against a woman who shouted an expletive during a Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting in January. Whelchel argued that the case had “absolutely nothing to do with free speech,” although the defense disagreed.

According to Asante, the upgraded charges in Alam’s case mean the activist has been arrested multiple times over the last two years. He has lost his job and faced “reputational damage.”

Still, Alam told The Guardian that he remains committed to speaking out “in favor of people that are oppressed.”

“I have so much love and compassion for people, and that’s the main reason why I’m so outspoken,” Alam said. “That’s why I’m an activist: because I care so much about people, and I care so much about injustice.”