Southern California’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization is praising the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for a hate crime investigation into an incident in Agoura Hills last year.
On Sept. 28, 2024, a man “aggressively pounded on the victim’s front door, caused damage to the door, & made threatening, racially charged statements” at a home in the 30400 block of Passageway Place, the LASD said.
Investigators tied those threats and racist statements to “a Palestinian flag displayed in an upstairs window” of the home.
On Wednesday, the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, aka CAIR-LA, released a statement “welcom[ing] a hate crime investigation.”
“No one should face harassment or threats simply for displaying a flag that represents their identity or their call for justice,” CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said in a statement.
Ayloush added that they believe the incident is part of a “broader rise in anti-Palestinian hate and Islamophobia aimed at silencing voices calling for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and brutal occupation of indigenous Palestinian land.”
“We must remain vigilant in opposing all forms of hate and ensure our communities can safely express their identities and stand up for justice and human rights,” Ayloush explained. “We commend the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for investigating this incident as a hate crime and urge full accountability for the perpetrator.”
Investigators are still searching for that perpetrator, who is about 30 years old.
During the incident, he was wearing a white shirt and black pants. He also wears glasses, according to images provided by the LASD.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Aquino at 818-878-1808.
