DAVIS, Calif. — The Davis Police Department is investigating two hate crimes involving a man cutting down Israeli flags.
People in Davis told ABC10 the city is known for being welcoming and they don’t understand why anyone would go up to a home and incite fear in those exercising their First Amendment rights.
"Our officers reviewed the video and what they saw was a man with a knife who just physically cut the flag down and removed it,” said Davis police spokesman Dan Beckwith.
It happened early Friday morning and a similar incident was reported not far away on L Street at Michael Crago-Schneider’s home.
"Luckily I had two backup flags thinking this might happen sometime, and someone came. The person that came is the same person that probably came over to Claremont and they have a camera, and that guy had a pretty big knife,” said Crago-Schneider.
He’s lived in Davis with his wife for almost 20 years and the symbol of the Israeli flag is an emotional one for his family.
"My wife's family are all Holocaust survivors, so we have no family. I mean we have grandchildren, so that's it,” he said.
The chair of the Davis Phoenix Coalition says these kinds of incidents have risen since the Hamas-Israel war began.
"These range from targeted incidents of antisemitism from hate groups, many of which come from outside Davis and come to cause distress in our community,” said Anoosh Jorjorian.
Regardless, the community says there is zero tolerance for this type of behavior.
"These type of incidents generate a certain amount of fear within our community. It's our goal to provide a safe community for anyone who lives or visits our town. This is unacceptable behavior,” said Beckwith.
Davis police say anyone with information that can help them catch the person cutting down the flags can call them, and anyone who needs support can contact the Davis Phoenix Coalition.
