Stabbing of US Palestinian a hate crime - Texas police

Police say Bert James Baker, 36, committed a hate crime

Texas investigators say the stabbing of a Palestinian-American man protesting against the war in Gaza meets the police definition of a hate crime.

The alleged attack took place on Sunday near the University of Texas in Austin.

The suspect allegedly rode a bike up to a truck carrying four Muslims and tried to rip down a scarf from the vehicle bearing the words "Free Palestine".

On Wednesday, Austin Police Department officials said Bert James Baker, 36, had committed a hate crime.

The ruling from the police Hate Crimes Review Committee says that it will now be up to the Travis County District Attorney's Office to determine what charges he will ultimately face.

Zacharia Doar, 23, was stabbed in the chest during a fight with Mr Baker, according to a police report of the incident.

The group was attacked after attending a pro-Palestinian protest at the state capitol, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has advocated for hate crime charges against their attacker.

Mr Baker is accused of trying to open the truck's tailgate, and yelling racial slurs at the group in order to provoke a fight, according to the police report.

One witness told the Austin American-Statesmen newspaper that he helped by using the scarf - a traditional Palestinian keffiyeh - to staunch the bleeding.

"In that moment, it was just extremely terrifying," said Suhaib Shah.

"Just seeing the amount of pain that this guy was in who had been stabbed and how much he was bleeding and just seeing how distraught the kids were."

Mr Doar has undergone surgery and is now in recovery, his family says.

Attacks on Muslims and Jews have risen since the 7 October attack by Hamas and Israel's ground invasion of Gaza.

In November, three men of Palestinian descent in Vermont were shot while wearing keffiyehs and speaking Arabic during a walk.

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