Who is Hadasa Karavanibozak? Brooklyn woman charged with hate crime as video throwing coffee at a man wearing headscarf goes viral online 

Hadasa Karavanibozak, an American Jewish woman caught on camera throwing hot coffee at a man wearing a scarf while he was with his toddler son at a Brooklyn playground, surrendered to authorities on Tuesday, November 21, nearly two weeks after the incident.

According to multiple reports, the incident unfolded on November 7, 2023, at Edmonds Playground in Forte Green, Brooklyn. According to New York Daily News, the victim, identified as Asish Prashar, who was born and raised in London and is of Indian Descent, was reportedly watching his 18-month-old son play with another boy when Karavanibozak, 48, approached him.

Prashar told the publication that he was wearing a keffiyeh, a headscarf traditionally worn by Palestinian men at the time, and Karavanibozak, who seemingly presumed he was from Palestine, asked him "Do you support Hamas? Do you know they are terrorists?"

Prashar said that the Keffiyeh scarf was a gift from a Muslim woman he once worked with. Prashar recalled that Karavanibozak then accused “his people” of burning babies in the oven before adding, "I hope someone burns your baby in an oven."

When Prashar retrieved the phone to document the hate-fuelled rant, Karavanibozak reportedly lost her temper and aggressively started walking toward him, saying, “You and your son go away.”

The video circulating on the internet, amassing over a million views, showed Karavanibozak holding a coffee and a phone, approaching Prashar before hurling the device and the beverage at him. Prashar who first uploaded the video on his Instagram said that while he and his son were shaken by the incident, they were unhurt.

---

What we know about Hadasa Karavanibozak arrested for throwing coffee at man in playground

On Tuesday, November 21, New York police said that American Jewish woman Hadasa Karavanibozak, accused of making anti-palestine comments and hurling a hot coffee at a man identified as Asish Prashar, was charged with multiple counts, including hate crime assault and harassment.

The victim, Asish Prashar, told ABC 7 NY that Karavanibozak's arrest was a community-driven effort. Prashar explained that shortly after the video went viral online, he found posters of the attacker strewn across the neighborhood in an attempt to drive her out.

Karavanibozak, who is a nanny living in Grand Army Plaza, was forced to surrender after her entire block was reportedly peppered with fliers. Prahar said:

"The community has driven to surrender herself. It's been not just shared on my social, it's been shared. I feel like every person in New York knows about this. Thanks to the media, but also thanks to social media, but also what I found is the posters that some aunties, what I call aunties, people who've put themselves out there to take care of my son right now/ They designed those posters that you've seen on every street corner.”

Prashar told ABC that Hadasa Karavanibozak, who lived near the playground where he was attacked, was also spotted at Whole Foods over the weekend. Prashar added that he was sad that his son was exposed to the level of hate and intolerance while saying that Hadasa Karavanibozak was not a representation of the Jewish community, the NY Daily News reported.