A decapitated baby doll covered in fake blood was left outside a Palestinian-American family’s Ohio home — with the doll’s severed head impaled on a makeshift spike under their “Free Palestine” flag.
Police in the Toledo suburb of Sylvania Township launched an investigation after the chilling display was found around noon Monday, CNN reported.
Surveillance video from a neighbor’s house showed a man in dark clothing walking up to the family’s “Free Palestine” flag and placing something underneath, according to an incident report.
A similarly dressed man was observed a few minutes earlier cutting grass in the central boulevard across from the targeted property, although it was not immediately clear that it was the same man, the report said.
Police have not said whether the incident is being investigated as a hate crime, something the nation’s leading Muslim civil rights group is calling for.
The Cleveland chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) described the incident in Sylvania Township as “anti-Palestinian” and called on local, state and federal authorities to monitor and probe “crimes related to the rising Islamophobia.”
“We hope the Sylvania Police Department will do its due diligence in collecting all the information they need to identify the perpetrator and to consider bringing a hate crime charge,” Faten Odeh, interim executive director of CAIR-Cleveland,” said in a statement.
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“We should all feel safe in our neighborhoods and be able to display our heritage without fear of hate-filled retaliation from our neighbors,” Odeh added.
The homeowner who found the mutilated doll smeared with fake blood was advised by the local police “to be careful,” and just hours later someone removed the Palestinian flag from the tree on the family’s property, according to the non-profit.
The family that owns the home is Palestinian and has lived in Sylvania Township for many years without having any run-ins with its neighbors, Odeh told USA Today.
Tuesday’s incident is currently being investigated as menacing and criminal trespassing, police said. So far, no arrests have been made.
The national office of CAIR said it has documented a sharp spike in reported incidents targeting Muslims since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7.
From Oct. 7 to Nov. 4., the organization said it received 1,283 requests for help and reports of bias — a 216% increase from the same period the previous year.
At the same time, antisemitic incidents targeting Jews also have been on the rise in the US and around the world since the start of the conflict, according to experts.
