Arab American’s Office Is Defaced

In what police described as a possible hate crime, an Anaheim insurance office owned by an Arab American was broken into early Tuesday by burglars who spray-painted a swastika and graffiti on the wall.

“I am very concerned, and my staff is afraid,” said Ahmad Alahmad, 42, proprietor of the vandalized Farmers Insurance Group office in the 600 block of South Euclid Avenue. “We are locking our doors, being vigilant and looking behind our backs.”

Workers who arrived at the office Tuesday morning found the walls marred by a black swastika and the phrase “Go Home Arab,” according to Rick Martinez, a spokesman for the Anaheim Police Department. The intruders also stole a laptop computer and a money bag containing customers’ checks, Martinez said.

“There are some obvious things indicating it was a hate crime,” Martinez said Wednesday, “but we are not rushing in and immediately labeling it that until we find out why this person was targeted. In light of today’s times, anything is possible--if it is hate-related, that causes a tremendous amount of concern.”

Alahmad said his office also was vandalized Sept. 11, shortly after the news reports that Islamic militants had hijacked several airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. In that incident, he said, no epithets were left behind.

“I am an American citizen and I am very proud to be an American,” said Alahmad, a Palestinian immigrant who’s been in the United States for 23 years.

In the wake of the latest incident, he said, neighboring businesspeople had brought doughnuts and coffee to the office and many had called to offer support.

“I am very proud of the American people,” Alahmad said. “There are some very good people out there. But there are also some ignorant people who need to be stopped from spreading their poison.”

Since Sept. 11, there have been 37 incidents in Orange County targeting people perceived to be Muslim, Arab or Middle Eastern, according to Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the Orange County Human Relations Commission.

“The most we’ve ever had targeting that community in a year was 14,” he said, “and that was during the Gulf War. This is a rather alarming reaction.”

The most serious attack, Kennedy said, was aimed at an eastern Indian family whose members were beaten as they left a karaoke restaurant in Anaheim last week. One man had his jaw shattered, and it had to be wired shut for two months, Kennedy said. An Islamic restaurant--also in Anaheim--was set afire as well, he said.

“There have been some pretty substantial events,” Kennedy said.

But police are more cautious about labeling such incidents as hate-related.

“We’re looking at three or four instances since Sept. 11 that may eventually be classified as hate crimes,” Anaheim’s Martinez said. “Nothing has been classified that way to date.”