Dearborn Man Yells Antisemitic Threats To Judge During Arraignment

DEARBORN, MI — A Dearborn man that was charged with ethnic intimidation yelled antisemitic threats to the judge and flipped off the court with his middle finger during his Sunday arraignment on video.

Hassan Yehia Chokr, 35, charged with two counts of ethnic intimidation after police said he made antisemitic and racist threats to parents, young children and security personnel outside the Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills.

As Judge Julie Nelson-Klein announced the court was holding Chokr in jail on a $1 million bond and restricting his social media use, Chokr called Nelson-Klein a 'f****** Jewish b****' and then flipped off the courtroom, saying "god's going to judge you the way you're judging me."

Officers did not immediately arrest Chokr when they stopped his vehicle because they didn't believe the evidence wasn't strong enough to make an arrest on ethnic intimidation, Bloomfield Township Police Chief James Gallagher said.

Some Jewish leaders in Metro Detroit questioned why officers didn't immediately arrest Chokr during the stop, especially since he said on video during the traffic stop that he was going to another synagogue.

"The ethnic intimidation has to have some kind of act with the verbiage where the individual feels threatened," Gallagher told Fox 2 Detroit.

Officers then found another video Chokr posted to social media of him intimidating parents dropping their young children off and security guards outside the synagogues Friday morning, police said.