BACOLOD City – A café owned by an Israeli national was targeted in an alleged hate crime incident along La Salle Avenue in this city’s Barangay Villamonte early yesterday morning.
Business owner and 66-year-old Samuel Haimovich, in a radio interview, said he was awakened by a loud noise coming from his cafe.
When he turned on the lights, he found the glass window of his establishment shattered and a huge rock with the words “Free Palestine” on the ground.
Haimovich said no one was hurt in the attack, although he has reported the incident to the local police.
According to the victim, he married a Filipina and decided to settle down in Bacolod City back in 2017.
Police Station 4 is now investigating the incident, and the initial motives for the attack may be related to the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
It can be recalled that Hamas launched a massive attack against Israel on Oct. 7 of last year.
The said attack also killed two overseas Filipino workers, one of whom was a resident of Cadiz City, Negros Occidental. (Watchmen Daily Journal)/PN
