Jewish Israeli Cybertruck Owner Calls for Hate Crime Charge After Swastika Drawn on Car in Brooklyn
by Shiryn Ghermezian
March 12, 2025, Seattle, Washington, USA: A row of brand-new Tesla Cybertrucks stands in a Tesla Motors Logistics Drop Zone in Seattle, Washington, USA, on Wed., March 12, 2025. Photo: ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
The Jewish Israeli owner of a Tesla Cybertruck said the man who scrawled a swastika message on his electric car in Brooklyn should face a hate crime charge.
“The police, the DA [district attorney], and the city should charge people like this and should prosecute people like this,” Avi Ben Hamo, 45, told “Fox & Friends” on Monday. He said that people like the man who targeted his car need to face consequences for their actions, adding that “otherwise, other people are not going to be safe and Jewish people are not going to be safe in the city.”
Ben Hamo described the incident as an act of antisemitism and said, “as a Jew, I don’t feel safe anymore in Brooklyn or New York.”
The side view mirror of Ben Hamo’s car had a sticker on it that featured the message “Happy Purim” in Hebrew, in honor of the Jewish holiday that took place on Friday. In broad daylight on Thursday, a fellow Jewish man drew a message on Ben Hamo’s Cybertruck that equated Tesla CEO and US Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk, who also serves as a senior advisor to President Donald Trump, with a swastika. The message said “Elon” and below his name was the equal sign. Underneath that was the Nazi symbol.
Ben Hamo had parked his Cybertruck on Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights and while standing on the sidewalk, he saw the suspect double-park his Subaru, exit the vehicle, approach Ben Hamo’s car, and then proceed to scribble in dust on the driver’s door the hate message. Ben Hamo quickly ran over and confronted the man.
“I saw this guy messing with my car, I don’t know what was going on, and then I saw this very antisemitic swastika on the car,” Ben Hamo told “Fox & Friends” during an appearance on the show. “I approached [the suspect] and asked him, ‘What are you doing?’ and he told me very, very disgusting things. And he tried to run away.”
Ben Hamo blocked the suspect’s car from driving away from the scene while the Cybertruck owner called the police. Ben Hamo said the man tried to run him over with his car in an attempt to flee the scene. The latter then got out of the car, ran away on foot from the area, and came back an hour and a half later. At that point, police had arrived and arrested him on suspicion of aggravated harassment. He was later released from custody and not charged. He was later identified as 42-year-old Michael Lewis.
A lawyer for the suspect told “Fox & Friends” on Monday that Lewis “deeply regrets touching the other man’s car and using a hate symbol in the message.”
“He was dealing with a host of personal issues at the time and the action was out of character,” attorney Mark Luccarelli added. “He was released from custody without any charges because no damage was done to the vehicle and no crime was committed.”
Tesla vehicles, dealerships, and charging stations have recently been vandalized, destroyed and even set on fire around the US by those protesting Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency and its slashing of government spending, which has led to major federal job cuts.
Thursday’s incident targeting Ben Hamo’s car is at least the third attack on a Cybertruck in New York City in recent days, according to the New York Post. “People hating Elon Musk is one thing, but to do something like this is next level. I’m speechless,” Ben Hamo told the publication. “That’s just wrong. I don’t understand how someone thinks because I bought a car it gives them the authorization to do this.”
