Many residents of Los Angeles and throughout the world display the Palestinian flag as an act of solidarity during the ongoing genocide. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Incidents of Anti-Palestinian harassment are frequently unaddressed by landlords and employers. In an apartment complex in Los Angeles, management has failed to respond to complaints of mob harassment and theft continuously targeting a Palestinian-American resident.
In the summer of 2025, a Palestinian-American resident received a random phone call from his property manager advising him that he was required to remove a Palestine flag displayed inside his private residence that was visible from his balcony. The resident felt targeted and believed he was being singled out because he was specifically hanging a Palestine flag.
“She said that [the flag] violates the lease protocol, stating that there’s a clause saying that I’m not allowed to have anything draped over my curtains, and that they need to be able to see my curtains through my balcony,” said the resident, who prefers to remain anonymous for the sake of his safety. “I told her that the flag was inside my private residence. It was inside of my apartment.”
He asked his property manager to send him the specific clause in his lease that she was referring to, with no response. After he attempted to contact her multiple times over email, she finally sent him the correct lease that he signed upon his move in. The lease contained only a vague statement that stated “You may not post or display political signs relating to an election, legislative vote, initiative, referendum, recall process or issues that are before a public commission, public board or elected local body for a vote as allowed by law.” When she first called the resident asking him to remove the Palestine flag, the property manager told him that “only American flags” were permitted to be hung up on the property, which was not supported by any language in the lease. Obviously, a flag is not a political sign.
“I told her this feels very targeted, especially during today’s climate and the genocide in Gaza,” the resident explained. “I told her that I’m a good tenant, I’m a quiet tenant, and I pay my rent and bills on time — is this how you treat your tenants?”
Later that evening, on the same day the resident was contacted by his property manager, he and his friend were subjected to a series of hate incidents, harassment, and intimidation by a group of approximately 10 individuals near the pool area of the complex. The harassment included Anti-Palestinian racism, as well as xenophobic slurs, threats of deportation, and physical intimidation.
“[My friend] went onto the balcony and one tenant started yelling ‘fuck Palestine, fuck you.’ And the entire complex and everyone else could hear,” the resident said. “There was a younger woman and an older woman in the pool area and they were, like, snickering and, you know, cheering on the harassment. And the older woman asked me, ‘Do you even live here? Do you speak English? I’ve never seen you before.’”
Following that, a group of men began harassing the resident and his friend. This exchange and the following three hours resulted in the resident and his friend being spat at, calling the resident and his friend racial slurs, including referring to them as “terrorists” and “supporting terrorism,” calling them “fucking cunts,” “pieces of shit,” “Ibn Sharmoota (son of a whore in Arabic),” and “Palestinian kook,” all of which was documented on video. One harasser told the Palestinian resident, “You’re gonna get in big trouble,” threatening to get him “kicked out of the fucking U.S.” if he didn’t take down his Palestine flag, and attempted to call ICE on the resident and his friend. In a darkly ironic twist, this individual has since been deported to Israel, his country of origin.
The following day, during a community movie event at the pool, which directly faces the resident’s balcony area, the same individual and two other individuals who participated in the previous day’s harassment were present. They sat at a nearby table, repeatedly looking toward the Palestinian resident while he was sitting on his balcony, with the intention to intimidate him. The same young woman who was at the pool area the day before made a deliberate physical gesture toward him with the intention to startle him. This occurred while members of the property management staff were physically present, failing to provide a safe, equitable space for their residents.
“Given the history of harassment from these same individuals, this behavior was threatening and made me feel unsafe to even sit on my balcony,” said the Palestinian resident.
The next day, at approximately 7:30 PM a male neighbor, whose name cannot be identified, yelled “Fuck Palestine” multiple times in a loud and aggressive manner outside the Palestinian resident’s unit.
On that same day, a few minutes later, while the resident was on the phone with the police for the second time that week, a female neighbor stood near his balcony and flipped him off. The Los Angeles Police Department arrived and essentially dismissed the entire situation, saying they couldn’t do anything about it, and disregarded it as a “hate incident.”
The resident explained, “He (the unnamed harasser) does the yelling around 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM because that’s when the complex closes. The security guard doesn’t begin his shift till 9:00 PM, so it gives him and all the other Zionists in my building hours to hurl insults and disturb my peace. These are direct verbal attacks targeting my ethnic identity.”
That same night, at approximately 10:45 PM, his upstairs neighbors stomped and jumped aggressively on the ceiling multiple times in a manner that felt threatening and intimidating. “The stomping and jumping went on for a solid five minutes,” the Palestinian resident said. “This was not normal household noise, it was targeted harassment, intended to disturb me as I was trying to sleep.”
The resident explained how the harassment continued over the following days. “At approximately 8:01 PM, as I was sleeping, I was startled and woken up and got harassed again the same guy yelling ‘Am Ysrael Chai’ (The People of Israel Live) and ‘Fuck Palestine’ alongside other insults that I couldn’t catch. My balcony door was closed and so were the curtains.”
He continued, “Then shortly after that, I woke up and noticed my little Palestine flag that I had in my flower vase on my balcony was missing. It was not found anywhere near the premises and with the ongoing harassment and discrimination, I believe someone stole my property and trespassed. I reported this to my property manager and once again have not been given any response whatsoever.”
Despite asking for assistance in preventing further harassment, which he documented thoroughly in writing, the targeted resident has not received any support from property management, nor have any of the tenants who harassed him been held accountable for making dangerous and blatantly discriminatory threats to their neighbor.
“After I had sent my complex the fifth email regarding more harassment, my property manager finally responded, stating word for word, ‘I am in receipt of your email and management is reviewing the camera footage, as we have multiple cameras surrounding the pool area. In addition, we are handling all issues in accordance with the law. Per the law Civil Code 1940.4 the flag exceeds the legal size,’” he explained. “So, now the problem is that my ‘political sign’ is too big. They were obviously grasping at straws. I was then advised by private sources to take it down and to get a smaller flag in its place.”
The resident has not received a response regarding any camera footage and since that email was sent by his property manager, he has since removed his Palestine flag and has yet to put up another one due to fear of continued harassment. Since the harassment began last summer, the resident has experienced terrible anxiety and fear, no longer feeling comfortable sitting on his balcony or using common spaces in the complex, and feeling like he constantly needs to look over his shoulder in case of further danger or threats.
The most recent incident occurred a few months ago, when an unknown person or group illegally entered this resident’s balcony at night, stealing and removing two Palestine stoles from the resident’s dining table, as well as another small Palestine flag from a flower vase. “They also physically removed my ring camera that I had loosely placed on my dining chair, facing it down on the ledge near my balcony,” he said. “This was done while I was not home, and I woke up the next morning to find everything missing and my ring camera misplaced.”
He reported the violation and theft via email to his property manager once again but she was on vacation, and as of publication, still has not responded. He then spoke to another leasing office employee, who refused to provide security camera footage, saying that a police report must be filed first and police must ask for the footage. The resident described this other leasing agent as very “rude and dismissive” and said that “ … she ended up asking me to leave the leasing office and kept demeaning my situation, stating that the leasing office can’t do much and must remain ‘neutral’ in situations like these.” He has since filed a police report and is awaiting further developments.
The ongoing discrimination and harassment this resident has experienced and continues to experience is a clear violation of tenant rights, in terms of safety and habitability, and reflects an alarming pattern of anti-Palestinian racism and Zionism perpetuated regularly during this ongoing genocide. Coupled with the unjust demand for this resident to remove his Palestine flag, it is clear that the entire situation has been fueled by pro-Israel sentiments. He has been in contact with an attorney and continues to document and build a case against his landlords for their continued negligence and discrimination.
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