Is vandalism of a Christian church protected under the First Amendment?

That’s the claim made by attorneys for three Muslim activists accused of spray-painting graffiti near the entrance of the nondenominational Uncommon Church in Hurst, Texas, located about 10 miles northeast of Fort Worth. The vandalism, which occurred in early March 2024, included an expletive referring to Israel, a swastika, and several inverted red triangles, a symbol used by Hamas and pro-Palestinian protesters to refer to Israeli military targets.

The graffiti, which was spray-painted near a flagpole displaying a large Israeli flag outside the church, was initially said to incur less than $200 in damages before prosecutors later argued for damages over $750, according to The Guardian.

Prosecutors also added a hate crime enhancement for the graffiti, which the jury rejected.

At a September press conference, advocates with Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group designated as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates, argued that the vandalism was protected by the U.S. Constitution, saying, “It is a case that is placing our First Amendment rights and our sense of justice on trial.”

“I think that protest, graffiti, that sort of thing is the language of folks who are unheard. And so my heart went out to them,” said attorney Alison Grinter Allen.

During the trial, Alam’s attorneys argued that the anti-Israel graffiti was protected speech under the First Amendment. Pastor Brad Keeran of Uncommon Church said he found that argument “laughable.”

“What was discussed on the first day of trial was that it is part of our First Amendment rights to protest our government and the government of other nations,” as part of the defense attorney’s argument, Keeran told CP. “So, he was protesting the government of Israel and that the swastikas and the three downward facing triangles and 'from the river to the sea' — that none of that was antisemitic, none of that was anti-Jewish people, none of that was meant to be anything other than a political statement against the nation of Israel, which is laughable.”

Alam was ultimately convicted of vandalism but not a hate crime, receiving a six-month jail sentence, $1,700 in restitution, and a lifetime ban from the church. Venzor is reported to have struck a plea deal with prosecutors while Khan awaits the conclusion of her trial.

Keeran said the uproar began in late December 2023 after he decided to replace the church’s Jesus flag with the flag of the state of Israel. “We have this huge flagpole at our church campus. We fly a flag with the name of Jesus over our city,” he said. “I thought, what if we fly the Israeli flag?”

After making a custom 38-foot-long Israeli flag, the church began flying it in January 2024. Keeran said while the church was generally supportive of the move “for the most part,” the backlash came from the surrounding community.

“We immediately received an unbelievable amount of feedback from the community; Hate messages, people coming by the building, and it was just an onslaught of Instagram and Facebook messages, voicemails and emails,” he said. “Everybody was very upset that we would support the nation of Israel.”

Despite the vandalism, Keeran said that little has changed as far as security measures at the church, but he understands that, in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination, the world is rapidly changing.

“It's ludicrous to think that painting a swastika and ‘F Israel’ and downward facing triangles from the river to the sea is the First Amendment protected right for somebody to vandalize a house of worship,” he said, “but in all of the nonsense that we've seen from Charlie Kirk and other antisemitic … things that have been happening, I guess it's no surprise we should be used to this level of antisemitism.”

In response to a wave of antisemitic incidents in March 2024, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to arrest rioters for espousing antisemitism on college campuses. Abbott specifically cited pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas chants like “from the river to the sea” as unprotected speech.

Attorneys with CAIR, activists from the University of Houston and the University of Texas at Dallas, and members of the Democratic Socialists of America sued Abbott in May 2024, arguing that his directive violated the Constitution.