Jeffrey Kopszywa is guilty of hate crimes against the Palestinian American man

At first Hakeim was angry.

On October 1, 2024, Abu Khdeir remembered that he received a package in his shop in Baltimore, which he did not order. It was a green T-shirt for the Israeli defense forces. He thought someone played a joke about him.

As a Palestinian American, he said, the T-shirt felt like a personal attack on his identity.

The next day, Abu Khdeir received another package. It contained two toy pagers – a green and a pink – An indication of a strike that Israeli forces in Syria and Lebanon carried out against members of the militant group of the Hisbollah group.

“These elements were simply not a random objects,” said Abu Khdeir. “You should cause damage and fear.”

The FBI and Baltimore police examined the packages, and the law enforcement authorities later arrested a man: Jeffrey Kopszywa, a customer and veteran of the US Marine Corps, which served from 2000 to 2004.

Abu Khdeir, 35, from Baltimore, said he moved forward. But what happened, he said, is bigger than just him.

“I think there is a lot of Palestinian hatred at the moment,” he said. “I'm not even the only one.”

“Our communities deserve the right to justice”

In the first six months of the 2024, the Council for American Islamic relationships or Cair 413 cases of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian complaints, incidents and inquiries in Maryland.

“This special incident reflects a much broader trend of hate, bias, intolerance, targeted Muslims, Arabs and people who are committed to Palestinian human rights in our state,” said Zainab Chaudry, director of Cairs Maryland.

At the same time, the group fights with what they think is the drastic subdaduction of these incidents.

Cair called for an examination of the T-shirt and toy pager and welcomed the arrest.

The advice, she said, had found anecdotically that the members of the community believe that nothing will happen. They are missing from the examination process, she said, and fear retaliation.

“It's a challenge,” said Chaudry. “But we'll just keep trying to get this message out there.”

“Our communities earn the right to justice as well as in every community,” she added.

Before he received the T-shirt and the toy pager, Abu Khdeir said that his business had been targeted in the past with a constant phone calls of a not demonstrable number.

Sometimes, said Abu Khdeir, he would receive up to 100 of these calls a day.

Abu Khdeir learned that another business owner who is Jewish received similar calls in his business. People had thrown food containers in this shop with racist and incoherent news, including “The clowns =) !!”

The police reported that a yellow toy pager was also connected to the mailbox.

“What turned out was very hurtful and scary”

On February 11, the 42 -year -old Kopszywa from Baltimore in front of the Baltimore Circuit Court owe to the use of an object or a symbol to threaten or intimidate, and was sentenced to three years in prison, whereby the entire probation that was up to five years and five years was suspended.

He spent three months and 17 days in prison.

As part of the declaration of consent, Kopszywa must undergo alcohol and mental health screening and treatment. He is neither approved by the shop within 100 feet nor contact with the owner.

Del. Mark Chang and Senator Sarah Elfreth, both Democrats from Anne Arundel County, sponsored laws in 2020, who created the crime of using an object or a symbol to threaten or intimidate. It is an offense that has a maximum prison sentence of three years.

Chang said in front of the house of Justice of the house how his family was counted with a cat in the 1980s that was hung on a loop.

“When injustice happens to me, it happens to other people out there,” said Chang. “And that is our job to fight for people who cannot fight for themselves.”

In the meantime, Elfeth has been elected for the representation of Maryland's 3rd congress district.

The law was issued without the signature by governor Larry Hogan, a Republican. The measure was effective on October 1, 2020.

The case against Kopszywa only marked the second time that the crime in Baltimore was charged.

“This is obviously a different kind of case than is usually in this courthouse,” said Justin Dickman, a lawyer of the deputy state.

“The state is very concerned about the events that have occurred,” he added. “What turned out to be very hurtful and scary.”

Kopszywa had no criminal record, said Dickman. He explained that this was strongly taken into account in the plea contract.

Abu Khdeir provided an impact on the victim in which he spoke about how the T-shirt and the Toysheimers were “deliberate, intentional threats that should feel insecure in my own business and at home”.

“The calculated nature of these actions shows the clear intention to bother me, intimidate and terrorize,” said Abu Khdeir.

He called for accountability. But Abu Khdeir said he hadn't had a bad Kopszywa and wished him the best.

Once Kopszywa interrupted him and explained: “Objections. Kopszywa also laughed during the hearing.

Later Kopszywa described the public prosecutor as a travesty and explained that he had no motive to commit the crime.

“I don't care whether it came from my Amazon account or whether my account was even charged,” said Kopszywa. “You cannot prove that my account was not hacked or someone else used my money.”

Kopszywa said he was unemployed and suffer from post -traumatic stress disorder. He started in 2001 to Afghanistan and in 2003 in Iraq. The US veteran Ministry, he said, assigned him a 100% disability assessment.

“There is no ounce of hatred in my body,” said Kopszywa.

The judge Martin H. Schreiber II noticed that he was faced with a “very strange situation”.

“On the one hand, we have a crime with an actual victim of flesh and blood, the testimony of which moves,” said Schreiber. “Anyone who heard it would go to him and his family.”

Many crimes, he said, have no “identifiable victim”.

“On the other hand, we have the accused, who had many good properties and things for this incident that should be taken into account,” said Schreiber. “Last but not least, a fighter veteran is in the Middle East.”

Schreiber told Abu Khdeir that “It is a shame that they were exposed to abuse.”

“I'm just sorry that this happened,” said Schreiber. “It's sad to see.”

“I'm already moving ahead”

Abu Khdeir considered that Kopszywa should have received the maximum penalty.

In an explanation, the lawyer of the state of Baltimore, Ivan Bates, said: “Justice demands that every hate act with an obligation.”

Prosecutors, he said, “must evaluate and persecute charges based on certain elements that must be supported by evidence and undoubtedly proven.”

Although Bates said He noticed that Kopszywa had to undermine mental health.

“Baltimore is a diverse and lively city, and hate has no place here,” said Bates. “In the future, we will continue to pursue justice and at the same time reconcile accountability and fairness.”

At that time Abu Khdeir had no objections to the declaration of consent, said Bates.

Abu Khdeir said it was not important what is important. Instead, it is important to raise awareness of the injustices in Gaza and West Bank.

“I hope he can go forward,” said Abu Khdeir about Kopszywa, “because I already move forward from him.”

Abu Khdeir repeated that he wishes Kopszywa all the best.