An incident in which a woman from Illinois attacked a man wearing a “Palestine” sweatshirt at a Panera Bread in the Chicago suburbs has led to hate crime charges against her, according to authorities.

Alexandra Szustakiewicz, 64, from Darien, Illinois, has been charged with two counts of hate crime and one count of disorderly conduct. This was announced by DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin and Downers Grove Police Chief Michael DeVries in a statement on Monday. The incident took place on Saturday at a Panera Bread location in Downers Grove, approximately 23 miles southwest of downtown Chicago.

According to Downers Grove police, Szustakiewicz was at the Panera Bread around noon when she confronted a man wearing a sweatshirt that said “Palestine,” yelling offensive remarks. Szustakiewicz is accused of attempting to slap a cell phone out of the hand of a woman accompanying the man after she began recording the situation.

Police responded to reports of a disturbance at the restaurant, and Szustakiewicz was taken into custody without incident the following day. The complaint against her alleges that she committed a hate crime based on the perceived national origin of the victims.

During her initial court appearance on Monday, the judge granted a request from prosecutors for Szustakiewicz to have no contact with the victims and prohibited her from entering the Panera Bread where the event occurred. Szustakiewicz is set to appear in court again on December 16 for her arraignment.

“Every individual, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, or any unique characteristic, deserves respect and dignity,” Berlin stated. “Such actions and the underlying prejudice have no place in a civilized society, and my office is prepared to pursue the necessary charges in these situations.”

Civil Rights Group: Victim Protected His Pregnant Wife from Assault

CAIR-Chicago, the largest civil rights and advocacy organization for Muslims in the U.S., denounced the incident on Monday, labeling Szustakiewicz’s actions as “shameful and abusive.”

The organization claimed that Szustakiewicz had verbally and physically assaulted a couple, identified as Waseem and his pregnant wife, due to the Palestine hoodie he was wearing. They noted that Waseem defended his wife from several attempts to punch her during the confrontation.

The incident was recorded and shared on social media, including on X, where it amassed around 1.2 million views by Monday night, according to CAIR-Chicago.

In the footage, a woman can be seen lunging at the person filming the events. A man intervenes, asking, “What are you doing?” as he tries to prevent her from advancing.

The video later shows her attempting to strike the man, causing a drink she was holding to spill. She continued her aggressive behavior towards the victims while threatening to call the police.

At one point, the man tells her to stop. The video then shows her moving toward the cash register, reportedly asking an employee to call law enforcement.

Shortly afterward, the woman is seen trying to strike the individual recording, with the man standing between them, asserting, “Get away from my wife.”

As the man and the person recording try to step back, the woman seems to follow them. The video illustrates the man pushing her back, leading both parties to threaten to punch each other.

“I’m an American who took my wife out for lunch, and that became impossible just because I was Palestinian,” Waseem expressed to CAIR-Chicago.

Recent Incidents Amid Rising Islamophobia and Hate Crimes

Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of CAIR-Chicago, remarked that the attack, along with numerous other recent hate incidents in the U.S., signals a larger trend of hostility and intolerance toward Palestinian Americans and the Muslim community overall.

From January to June 2024, CAIR recorded nearly 5,000 bias complaints across the country—a 69% increase compared to the same timeframe in 2023. Earlier this year, the organization released a report indicating that they received the most complaints in their 30-year history, with over 8,000 instances of anti-Muslim hate documented. Nearly half of these complaints came in the last quarter of 2023, largely attributed to the escalation of violence in Gaza following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

A wave of Islamophobic incidents has left Muslim-American and Arab-American communities feeling alarmed. For instance, just a week after the October 7 attack, an Illinois man faced hate crime charges for fatally stabbing a 6-year-old and severely injuring the child’s mother, considered a violent reaction to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Additionally, in April, a New Jersey man was convicted of hate crimes for attacking a Muslim man near a Manhattan food cart. In June, a woman in Texas was charged after she reportedly attempted to drown a Muslim child in a swimming pool.

In an incident earlier this year, a woman from New York City has been charged with an anti-Muslim attack for pepper spraying an Uber driver, as reported by the authorities.