A second man faces hate crime charges in a 2024 attack of two Jewish DePaul University students.
In November 2024, Max Long and Michael Kaminsky were outside the DePaul student center in the 2200 block of North Sheffield Avenue in Lincoln Park. Long, who lived in Israel and was a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, was wearing a sign around campus that read “Come talk about Israel with an IDF Soldier” when they were approached and attacked by two men wearing black face masks.
Kasem Noubani, 24, was charged with two counts each of hate crime and aggravated battery. Adam Erkan, 20, was charged with the same counts last spring.
The men beat them with their fists and either a soda can or water bottle, and Long suffered a concussion, prosecutors said during a court hearing for Noubani Thursday. Kaminsky suffered a fractured wrist during the attack. Long still suffers memory loss and meets with a specialist every four to six weeks to continue recovering, prosecutors said.
At the hearing, prosecutors laid out their version of events. Noubani and Erkan met up before the attack in face masks. Erkan talked with Long and Kaminsky while Noubani attacked them from behind, DePaul surveillance video showed, according to prosecutors. Erkan fled in a silver SUV and Noubani ran away and threw his sweatshirt and face mask in the trash. DNA taken from the sweatshirt and mask during the investigation matched Noubani, prosecutors said.
Erkan pleaded guilty to a battery charge in November and identified Noubani as the person who attacked Long and Kaminsky from behind, prosecutors said.
Noubani was arrested in Arkansas during a traffic stop and extradited to Illinois. His next court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Months before the attack, Noubani had pleaded guilty to a trespassing charge during the 2024 Democratic National Convention. He was part of a group that breached a fence that was part of the security perimeter during the convention, held during pro-Palestinian protests that summer.
Long and Kaminsky filed a lawsuit against DePaul last April, alleging the school was negligent and failed to keep them safe on campus.
The attack took place months after pro-Palestinian DePaul students erected an encampment on campus demanding an end to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, which had begun after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel. Similar encampments went up at Northwestern University and other campuses across the country in the spring of 2024.