Palestinian Booth Targeted By Islamophobic Hate Speech At Suburban Festival

SKOKIE, IL — Authorities in Skokie are investigating an Islamophobic incident that occurred at the annual Festival of Cultures, an event that highlights the diverse community in the village.

At the festival, individuals at the Palestine booth at the festival said they experienced harassment, intimidation and assault by a man. In a video posted online of the incident, the man is heard calling the people at the booth terrorists and claiming they have explosives.

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"My clients asked, 'Can we help you?' And he responded, saying, 'You can Allahu Akbar kaboom yourself like the rest of your terrorist friends,'" victims' rights attorney Farah Chalisa told Patch.

"That is clearly a threat, intimidation, harassment, hateful, and I believe it is a crime."

According to Chalisa, who represents the group that was at the Palestine booth at the festival, the individual refused to leave the booth despite being asked repeatedly. Chalisa also said it took a while for event security to respond to the incident, which prompted the people at the booth to call 911.

Initially, Chalisa told Patch, the police were hesitant to file a police report or speak to a woman who claimed that the man hit her with his cane. In the video of the incident, police are seen walking the man away from the booth and shaking his hand before he walks away.

This is not the first time the man has targeted the Palestine booth at the Festival of Cultures, Chalisa said. Last year, the first year that Palestine had a booth at the event, the same man approached their booth last year and made similar comments.

This year, however, the comments the man made had escalated, Chalisa said.

"Last year the comments were more like, 'what's Palestine?' and 'Palestine's not a country,'" Chalisa said. "This year, he added telling them to blow themselves up and calling them terrorists repeatedly."

Village officials released a statement regarding the incident, calling the man's actions abhorrent and Islamophobic.

"The Village of Skokie strongly condemns this abhorrent and unacceptable conduct, which stands in stark contrast to the spirit of welcoming, learning and cultural celebration demonstrated by community members throughout the weekend," Village officials said in a statement.

According to officials, a police report was filed regarding the incident, and the investigation is ongoing.

Chalisa said the incident shed light on the biases that people have and said it should encourage others to take anti-Muslim sentiment and hate crimes more seriously.

"There has been a long-standing trend of hate crimes against the Muslim community not being investigated thoroughly, and I think that needs to change," Chalisa said.