Early last month, Raunaq Alam, a 32-year-old Bangladeshi American from the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Hurst, was on the verge of spending a decade behind bars for the alleged hate crime of spray-painting the words “Fuck Israel” on the side of a non-denominational Christian church in nearby Euless. 

His trial on the trumped-up charge was a classic example of a violation of First Amendment rights and a sign that Alam was being targeted for pro-Palestine activism, said his attorneys and supporters. 

On September 12, Alam was spared this fate as a Tarrant County jury rejected the elevated charge, instead convicting him of lower-level criminal mischief and sentencing him to probation. But Judge Brian Bolton, who presided over the felony trial despite being a misdemeanor judge, added a probation condition: 180 days in jail, starting immediately—a decision that has helped set off a chain of events during which Alam, one of three charged in the graffiti incident (the “Tarrant Three”), has found himself cycling in and out of jail. 

“Every single time since October [2024], the state is adding something new,” Alam told the Texas Observer on September 21 in an interview at his family’s home. “Every single thing they’re doing is just like they’re coming after me in every possible way. It’s abuse of power.”

Alam has been arrested five total times—on a number of grounds including possession of a controlled substance and perjury in addition to the graffiti-related charges—since the beginning of his case. After his most recent arrest for alleged perjury, Alam was placed in maximum-security custody in the Tarrant County Jail, Sheriff Bill Waybourn told WFAA, calling Alam a high-profile inmate. As county prosecutors aggressively pursue jail time for the pro-Palestine activist, his supporters say his rights are being violated.

“The Tarrant County DA’s office is showing the world how easily the government can roll back all of our civil rights,” said Alam’s defense attorney, Adwoa Asante, citing the hate crime escalation along with decisions by the state’s attorneys and the trial judge, calling the ongoing prosecutions a “rush to politically retaliate.”

On March 6, 2024, Alam, riding with friends Afsheen Khan, 23, and Julia Venzor, 26, allegedly pulled his sedan into the parking lot of Uncommon Church, a non-denominational church in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Euless. The house of worship was flying the Israeli flag as that country’s siege of Gaza entered its sixth month. Alam, along with Khan and Venzor, were captured on security camera footage spray-painting “Fuck Israel” along an exterior wall. 

The next day, Uncommon Church Lead Pastor Brad Carignan encountered the graffiti after being informed of it via phone call. Carignan and his fellow lead pastor and wife, Josie, have been outspoken in their support of Israel, especially since the 2023 attack by Hamas. Carignan testified during Alam’s hate crime trial last month, saying the graffiti left their “hearts so broken” and that “We, as Gentile church people, felt such a connection to Jewish people.” (At trial, Alam acknowledged he was aware of the church’s Zionist leanings.)

Law enforcement secured a warrant on March 20 and arrested Alam on a misdemeanor graffiti charge five days later. FBI agents arrived at a T-Mobile in Euless, where he worked. After Alam refused to answer questions without legal representation, he was taken into custody. Euless Police officers then searched Alam’s car, unlocking it with Alam’s own keys, and allegedly found less than one gram of ’shrooms, according to Asante, which led to an additional drug charge that remains pending. A search warrant for Alam’s car was secured two days later, according to trial testimony from police.

Alam bonded out within thirty hours. Then, last September, the district attorney assigned the graffiti case to Assistant DA Lloyd Whelchel, whose portfolio often includes capital murder prosecutions. Two months later, Alam was arrested and jailed again when Whelchel enhanced the charge from misdemeanor graffiti to criminal mischief and a hate crime, elevating the potential punishment from a $200 fine to a potential 10-year prison sentence.

During Alam’s hate crime trial last month, the prosecution argued that anti-Zionism and antisemitism are synonymous, emphasizing the overlap between the State of Israel and the Jewish people. But Alam’s lawyers and expert witnesses from both the defense and (in one instance) the prosecution stated that a distinction must be maintained between people of Jewish faith and the Israeli state. One expert witness, Deb Armintor, a University of North Texas professor with the Jewish Studies program and member of Jewish Voice for Peace, stressed the point to the Observer. “Not only is Israel committing a genocide against the Palestinian people; they’re claiming to do it in our name,” she said. “Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. … Zionism is a relatively modern political ideology. Judaism is an ancient religion.”

In his arguments, Whelchel referred to Alam’s actions as “terrorism,” called him a “punk,” and described alleged drug use in an apparent attempt to malign the defendant’s character. But jurors ultimately reached a unanimous decision that the act was not a hate crime. 

After the judge added the 180-day sentence to his probation, his lawyers appealed the jail time and Alam was bailed out on September 16, reuniting with his family, friends, and two cats. Mark Streiff, another Tarrant County criminal defense attorney, told the Observer that the 180-day addition was “a miscarriage of justice” and that the judge had acted “because of his own feelings about everything.” 

Alam’s ordeal, however, was far from over as prosecutors filed a motion arguing his bond was insufficient, citing text messages related to drug use submitted during trial and claiming Alam had perjured himself by denying he had used drugs. “They’re trying to revoke his bond on the drug charge, even though he hasn’t had any violations. So they’re essentially trying to revoke his bond for thought crimes,” Asante said. “I think it’s very important for people to understand: Fascism is here.”

On September 24, Alam was indicted for aggravated perjury and arrested again at the end of the next day. Alam had to pay two bonds, totalling $40,000, to get out again, which he did with help from a GoFundMe. Alam is now confined with an ankle monitor under curfew, with a court date set for November 11.

As Alam has cycled in and out of lockup, his lawyer Asante alleges that the trial judge displayed partiality to the state. In a failed recusal motion from last October, Asante alleged “biased rulings” and ex parte communications between the judge and the prosecution that disadvantaged the defense. 

The motion reads in part: “On October 8th, 2024, Judge Bolton rescheduled a trial date, where Defense had an out of state witness, without consulting Defense for the availability of Counsel, witnesses, or even the accused. … Defense is unsure if the new trial date of October 28th, 2024 took into account the State’s availability as Defense was not present for the ex parte communications about the motion to amend that Judge Bolton granted.”

Whelchel and Bolton’s offices did not respond to requests for comment. District Attorney Phil Sorrells told the Observer there were “no unauthorized communications.” Sorrels also said: “The First Amendment is not a shield for criminal behavior. Destroying another person’s property because you disagree with their views is not protected speech—it is a crime. Our community will not tolerate such lawlessness.”

The “Tarrant Three” have never disputed that they vandalized Uncommon Church. While Venzor and her lawyer took a plea deal in exchange for probation sometime prior to September, reportedly out of concern for Venzor’s children, Alam and Khan’s legal representatives are instead fighting the state’s prosecution. Khan’s trial was recently reset to December 2.

Alam and Afsheen Khan (right), who still faces trial (Courtesy/Stacey Monroe)

Alam, who grew up in Hurst and earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science at the University of Texas at Dallas, found a gateway into activism through the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014. A child of survivors of the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971, where the Pakistani government exterminated up to 3 million people, Alam spoke to the Observer about his father’s experiences and his passion for the pro-Palestinian cause.

“There was a time when my dad was traveling between the rivers on a boat to go to his uncle’s house, and he saw, like, a pile of skeletons in the river, just stacked [on the bank]. Bodies just being thrown in the river,” Alam said. “So that’s images that are just burned into [my family’s] heads that, unfortunately, are having to be resurfaced from all of the imagery that we’re seeing from the very brave journalists in Gaza.”

Alam also spoke to ongoing efforts by state actors to conflate Israel with the Jewish people. “Our government merges the ideas of Judaism and Zionism,” Alam said, noting that friends with Jewish Voice for Peace have supported him through his ordeal. “Criticizing a country or criticizing a state does not mean you’re criticizing an entire group of people or an entire faith.” 

Asante said she fears that, by the logic underpinning the state’s prosecution, hate crime laws could be used to shield not only governments and states but even for-profit corporations. “Hate-crime statutes were supposed to be for people who are vulnerable,” she said. “But now, if you’re saying ‘Fuck Israel’ and an entity like the government is going to be protected, how will we know that they’re not going to extend it to Amazon?”

The case of the Tarrant Three has gained national attention as outlets around the country have reported on the trial. Alam, meanwhile, remains singularly focused on “shedding light” on the genocide in Gaza—and he stands by the words painted on the site of the church that March night.

“Free Palestine,” Alam told the Observer during the interview at his family home, “and Fuck Israel.” 

The post Inside Tarrant County’s Dogged Prosecution of a Pro-Palestine Activist appeared first on The Texas Observer.

By LISA MASCARO, Associated Press Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the federal workforce and punish detractors, by threatening mass firings of workers and suggesting “irreversible” cuts to programs important to Democrats.

Rather than simply furlough employees, as is usually done during any lapse of funds, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said layoffs were “imminent.” The Office of Management and Budget announced it was putting on hold roughly $18 billion of infrastructure funds for New York’s subway and Hudson Tunnel projects — in the hometown of the Democratic leaders of the U.S. House and Senate.

Trump has marveled over the handiwork of his budget director.

“He can trim the budget to a level that you couldn’t do any other way,” the president said at the start of the week of OMB Director Russ Vought, who was also a chief architect of the Project 2025 conservative policy book.

“So they’re taking a risk by having a shutdown,” Trump said during an event at the White House.

Thursday is day two of the shutdown, and already the dial is turned high. The aggressive approach coming from the Trump administration is what certain lawmakers and budget observers feared if Congress, which has the responsibility to pass legislation to fund government, failed to do its work and relinquished control to the White House.

Vought, in a private conference call with House GOP lawmakers Wednesday afternoon, told them of layoffs starting in the next day or two. It’s an extension of the Department of Government Efficiency work under Elon Musk that slashed through the federal government at the start of the year.

“These are all things that the Trump administration has been doing since January 20th,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, referring to the president’s first day in office. “The cruelty is the point.”

With no easy endgame at hand, the standoff risks dragging deeper into October, when federal workers who remain on the job will begin missing paychecks. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated roughly 750,000 federal workers would be furloughed on any given day during the shutdown, a loss of $400 million daily in wages.

The economic effects could spill over into the broader economy. Past shutdowns saw “reduced aggregate demand in the private sector for goods and services, pushing down GDP,” the CBO said.

“Stalled federal spending on goods and services led to a loss of private-sector income that further reduced demand for other goods and services in the economy,” it said. Overall CBO said there was a “dampening of economic output,” but that reversed once people returned to work.

“The longer this goes on, the more pain will be inflicted,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., “because it is inevitable when the government shuts down.”

Trump and the congressional leaders are not expected to meet again soon. Congress has no action scheduled Thursday in observance of the Jewish holy day, with senators due back Friday. The House is set to resume session next week.

The Democrats are holding fast to their demands to preserve health care funding, and refusing to back a bill that fails to do so, warning of price spikes for millions of Americans nationwide. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates insurance premiums will more than double for people who buy policies on the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

The Republicans have opened a door to negotiating the health care issue, but GOP leaders say it can wait, since the subsidies that help people purchase private insurance don’t expire until year’s end.

“We’re willing to have a conversation about ensuring that Americans continue to have access to health care,” Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday at the White House.

With Congress as a standstill, the Trump administration has taken advantage of new levers to determine how to shape the federal government.

The Trump administration can tap into funds to pay workers at the Defense Department and Homeland Security from what’s commonly called the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that was signed into law this summer, according to CBO.

That would ensure Trump’s immigration enforcement and mass deportation agenda is uninterrupted. But employees who remain on the job at many other agencies will have to wait for government to reopen before they get a paycheck.

Already Vought, from the budget office, has challenged the authority of Congress this year by trying to claw back and rescind funds lawmakers had already approved — for Head Start, clean energy infrastructure projects, overseas aid and public radio and television.

The Government Accountability Office has issued a series of rare notices of instance where the administration’s actions have violated the law. But the Supreme Court in a ruling late last week allowed the administration’s so-called “pocket rescission” of nearly $5 billion in foreign aid to stand.

Associated Press writers Stephen Groves, Joey Cappelletti, Matt Brown, Kevin Freking and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP) — Two Delta Air Lines regional jets collided while on the taxiway at LaGuardia Airport in New York, injuring at least one person in what the airline described as a “low-speed collision.”

The wing of an aircraft carrying 32 people getting ready to take off Wednesday night to Roanoke, Virginia, hit the fuselage of an aircraft arriving from Charlotte, North Carolina, with 61 people aboard, according to a statement from Delta.

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A flight attendant had non-life threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital, according a statement from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. There were no reports of passengers injured, the airline said.

“Their right wing clipped our nose and the cockpit we have damage to our windscreen and … some of our screens in here,” a pilot said, according to air traffic control audio.

The plane that had landed “stopped, jerked, and jumped to the right,” passenger William Lusk, told ABC. ”Everyone went dead silent. And as everyone went dead silent, the pilot calmly came on and said, ‘Hey, we’ve been in a crash, everyone remain calm.’”

The rest of the airport’s operations were not expected to be impacted, according to Delta.

“Delta will work with all relevant authorities to review what occurred as safety of our customers and people comes before all else,” the statement from Delta said. “We apologize to our customers for the experience.”

The Delta Connection aircraft involved in the collision are operated by Endeavor Air.

By WAFAA SHURAFA, Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas was still considering its response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace proposal aimed at ending the nearly two-year war in Gaza as Israeli strikes overnight killed at least 13 Palestinians in the besieged territory, local hospitals said Thursday.

The plan, which has received wide international support, requires Hamas to release all remaining hostages, leave power in Gaza and disarm in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and an end to fighting. However, the proposal, which has been accepted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sets no path to Palestinian statehood.

In Gaza, meanwhile, nine people — almost all women — were killed when a house was hit in the eastern part of the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, and three people died when a strike hit a tent, also in Deir al-Balah, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital.

In Gaza City, health officials at the Shifa hospital said they received one body and several injured people, adding that its staff is having difficulties in getting to the hospital.

By Thursday morning, Israel had also intercepted most of about 40 vessels in a widely watched flotilla carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid for Palestinians and aiming to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, according to organizers.

This frame grab from video released by the Global Sumud Flotilla shows Israeli navy soldiers boarding one of the flotilla’s vessels as it approached the coast of Gaza early Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (Global Sumud Flotilla via AP)

Israel’s foreign ministry said on social media that activists on board – who included several European lawmakers – were safe and were being taken to Israel to begin “procedures” for their deportations to their home countries.

Awaiting word from Hamas

A senior Hamas official told The Associated Press on Wednesday that some points in the proposal agreed upon by Trump and Netanyahu are unacceptable and must be amended, without elaborating.

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He said the official response will only come after consultations with other Palestinian factions. Speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media about the ongoing talks, the official said Hamas had conveyed its concerns to Qatar and Egypt, two key mediators that have expressed support for the plan, albeit with some reservations.

The Hamas-led terrorist attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that triggered the war killed some 1,200 people while 251 others were abducted. Most of the hostages have been freed under previous ceasefire deals, but 48 are still held in Gaza — around 20 believed by Israel to be alive.

The plan guarantees the flow of humanitarian aid and promises reconstruction in Gaza, placing it and its more than 2 million Palestinians under international governance.

Mounting toll in Gaza

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 170,000 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its toll, but has said women and children make up around half the dead.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government. U.N. agencies and many independent experts view its figures as the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

Around 400,000 Palestinians have fled famine-stricken Gaza City since Israel launched a major offensive there last month. On Thursday morning, smoke could be seen in Northern Gaza and people were fleeing the area headed south, the only direction of travel allowed on the main north-south road in the strip since midday Wednesday.

Israel’s defense minister on Wednesday ordered all remaining Palestinians to leave Gaza City, saying it was their “last opportunity” and that anyone who stayed would be considered a terror supporters and face the “full force” of Israel’s latest offensive.

While Hamas’ military capabilities have been vastly depleted, it still carries out attacks. On Wednesday, at least seven projectiles were launched into Israel from Gaza, but all were either intercepted or fell in open areas, with no reports of casualties, the Israeli military said.

Associated Press writers Giovanna Dell’Orto in Jerusalem and Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report.