Cape Town - A woman has claimed she was verbally abused and nearly forced off the road by a motorist for having pro-Palestine posters on her car.
Rebecca Karlovic, 31, said that she opened a case of malicious damage to property after the attacker allegedly keyed the side of her vehicle, and was waiting to receive her case number.
She said the incident took place just before 9am on Friday near De Waterkant.
“I was initially confused by his driving and thought he was just an angry driver, but it all seemed very strange and I was suspicious,” she said.
“He was blocking my car purposefully but I thought I was being paranoid.”
Rebecca claimed that the man, identified as Adam Bulkin, a head of global portfolios at Sanlam, then followed her to her parking spot in Hudson Street, De Waterkant.
“Once I parked, he appeared again, shouting specifics. I was then aware that this was because of my pro-Palestine posters.
“He started off with a “hey, f*** you” and proceeded with “Jew hater”, “anti-semitic p**s” “racist p**s” more “f** yous”.
“He then said ‘I hope you die’ and mentioned that he hopes they ‘genocide the Palestinians’ and of course fat and ugly c**t,” Rebecca said.
She said all she could do was wait until the verbal onslaught from Bulkin was done.
“I was shocked as he continued to yell. He didn’t lay off and I felt very afraid he would get out of the car and assault me physically, as he was simply not stopping, so I stood there on the road and waited for him to be done with his verbal onslaught,” she said.
“When I managed to get a picture of his (registration) plate, he keyed the side of my car while it was parked and I was at a coffee shop.”
Bulkin could not be reached yesterday and has deactivated his social media accounts following the incident.
After sharing her experience on Twitter and tagging Sanlam in her post, the largest insurance company in Africa responded by saying that they would investigate the allegations against their employee.
A Sanlam Investments media statement read: “Sanlam is aware of allegations made against one of its employees, Adam Bulkin, regarding an incident with a member of the public. Sanlam takes these allegations seriously and is investigating the matter.”
Tensions and emotions have been running high in Cape Town, where a Global Day of Action for Palestine was attended by thousands of people in Sea Point on Saturday.
This after the South African government accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people in historic hearings held in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, last week.
Rebecca had hand-written posters reading “FREE PALESTINE from the river to the sea”, and “Fight against colonialism, occupation, genocide, boycott Israel” stuck to the windows of her car.
“I believe that a right to expression goes with a responsibility that your words are not symbolic of or invoking violence against a group or individual,” she said.
“There are many people who have far more inspiring things to say than me – a white woman.
“I will continue to publicly showcase what I believe in, which is a free and unoccupied Palestine from the river to the sea and the end to oppression and justice for all oppressed peoples everywhere.”