Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 27, 2024

A sixth suspect has been arrested in the brutal and unprovoked gang assault three years ago on a Jewish man, and is expected to be arraigned at Manhattan criminal court Thursday.

Joseph Borgen was beaten and assaulted in an antisemitic hate crime attack on May 20, 2021, near Times Square that was caught on video and went viral. Five of the attackers have received prison sentences, but according to Mr. Borgen, the alleged ringleader of the group, Salem Seleiman, was still on the run.

They did not know where he was, Mr. Borgen told the Sun on Wednesday, but within the last month they found him and arrested him in Florida. Mr. Borgen further said Mr. Seleiman was flown to New York from Florida on Wednesday morning for his arraignment, which was originally scheduled forWednesday afternoon and then moved to Thursday.Mr. Borgen told the Sun he believes the delay was caused due to a broken finger printing device.

I am not 100 percent sure, but I am pretty certain that this is the guy who started the whole incident. The one who started chasing me initially, Mr. Borgen told the Sun.

In the evening of May 20, 2021, at about 6:30pm, Mr. Borgen, who is now 32 years old and wears a yarmulke, was on his way to a pro-Israel rally, during an outbreak of violence in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas that had caught the worlds attention.

After he stepped out of the subway, a few blocks away from the rally, he suddenly found himself surrounded by a group of young men and a minor.

Before I could even react, Mr. Borgen told the court in his victim impact statement in November last year, the young men beat him to the ground, pepper sprayed him, and hit him with metal crutches, while calling him a dirty Jewand a filthy Jew, and telling him, Hamas will kill you and go back to Israel.

Mr. Borgen said he feared he was potentially going to die. The New York Police Department arrived, though, broke up the scene, and took him to the hospital. He suffered a concussion, psychological trauma, and an injury in his right wrist, which needed surgery and still causes him pain.

Text messages found on the phone of one of the attackers proved that the hate crime had been planned. A group chat showed that the group of young men had explicitly set the goal to stop pro-Israel demonstrators from having a peaceful demonstration. Video footage showed the attackers arriving at the demonstration at midtown Manhattan in a pick-up-truck.

One of the attackers, Mohammed Othman, is seen throwing a lit firecracker into a crowd, causing an innocent woman to suffer second degree burns. The video further shows how Mr. Borgen was chased, brought to the ground, pepper sprayed, and beaten.

Four attackers received prison sentences, a fifth was put on probation, but violated the terms of his release and also landed in jail. 23-year-old Waseem Awawdeh was arrested a few blocks away on the same day of the attack, still holding the metal crutch he used to beat Mr. Borgen.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Mahmoud Musa, 25, pled guilty to second-degree assault as a hate crime in September 2023, two and a half years after the attack, and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Othman, 26, who also pleaded guilty to the second degree assault charge, received a five year prison sentence.

Faisal Elezzi, who threw two punches at Mr. Borgen, had the chance to avoid going to prison. He was offered three years of probation including attending an anti-bias program.

Yet shortly before the judge sentenced him, Elezzi was arrested at Staten Island for allegedly running an illegal smoke shop and possessing several pounds of marijuana. Though the new charges were dropped, the judge added 60 days of prison time onto his three-year probation period.

On January 31, a fifth attacker, Mohammed Said Othman, 29, was sentenced to three years. Besides a minor, whose case is being handled in Family Court, there was one more assailant on the run, Mr. Seleiman.

According to Canary Mission, an organization that documents individuals that promote hatred against Jews, Mr. Seleiman has burned an Israeli flag and was also arrested at Fort Myers, Florida, for selling narcotics.

Mr. Seleiman appeared briefly in criminal court on Wednesday, wearing handcuffs, before being taken to get fingerprinted. Mr. Borgen saw his attacker in the courtroom for the first time since the incident three years ago.

Its not easy seeing him, Mr. Borgen told the Sun outside the courthouse, but the hardest part is when the prosecution starts showing the evidence and playing the videos. Then I begin to associate who he is with what happened. Thats when its really, really difficult.

The jewish activist and influencer, Lizzy Savetsky, 38, came to support Mr. Borgen, wearing a Justice for Joey cap. Ms. Savetsky met Mr. Borgen three years ago and has been coming to all the court hearings.

I do everything I can to fight hate crimes against Jews. Without consequences no one will be deterred from committing these acts of violence.

Mr. Seleiman is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.

Read this article:

Possible Ringleader Arrested in Brutal 2021 Attack on Jewish Man Near Times Square - The New York Sun

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