University of Texas at Austin stabbing

University of Texas at Austin stabbing
Part of Israel-Hamas war
Image of the University campus
Location	University of Texas at Austin, West Campus
Date	February 4, 2024 (2024-02-04)
Target	Pro-Palestinian protesters
Attack type	Stabbing and assault
Weapon	Knife
Deaths	0
Injured	1
Perpetrator	Bert James Baker
Motive	Anti-Palestinianism
Charges	Assault with a deadly weapon

On February 4, 2024, a stabbing attack occurred on the grounds of the University of Texas at Austin, perpetrated by 36-year-old Bert James Baker against a 23-year-old Palestinian-American student who attended a pro-Palestinian protest.

Prelude

Anti-Palestinianism was a rising sentiment during the Israel-Hamas war all over the world, including the United States.^[1] This has caused heightening tensions between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinians which sometimes leads to violent events to occur.^[2] Even before this attack, many anti-Palestinian hate crimes occurred with one of them being the shooting of three Palestinian-American men wearing Palestinian keffiyehs in Burlington, Vermont.^[3]

Attack

During a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas at Austin, Baker attacked a man inside the truck who was sitting in the passenger side of a car with his friend by dragging him out of the vehicle and put him to the ground after attempting to rip off a pro-Palestinian symbol from the truck that Doar was in and calling the group a racial slur.^[4][5] During this scuffle, the man's friend, 23-year-old Zacharia Doar attempted to help him but was stabbed while attempting to intervene.^[6] Doar was taken into the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries but, according to his father, was still in immense pain.^[7]

Reactions and aftermath

Police arrested Baker after the attack and Austin police stated that the attack was "bias-motivated" and would be investigated and treated as a hate crime.^[8] A month later was indicted by a grand jury on an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge but wasn't charged with any additional hate crime charge.^[9]

The Muslim Public Affairs Council stated that they were concerned with the rising Islamophobia and anti-Palestinianism after the attack stating that they were deeply concerned.^[10]

The Council on American–Islamic Relations stated that they condemn the attack strongly and that people who perpetrate these crimes should be "prosecuted to the full extent of the law".^[11]

References