Stuart Seldowitz, a former official in the Obama administration, has been arrested and charged with a hate crime following a series of alleged incidents involving a New York City food cart vendor.
Seldowitz, who previously served as the acting director for the National Security Council South Asia Directorate, was reportedly recorded making inflammatory comments to the vendor over several days.
The former official claimed that his comments were in response to the vendor's expressed support for the Palestinian terror group Hamas. This group has been implicated in recent atrocities in Israel, including a massacre and the kidnapping of over 200 individuals. Prior to his role in the National Security Council, Seldowitz served as the deputy director in the US State Department's Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs from 1999 to 2003.
In the video footage, Seldowitz can be heard threatening to report the vendor to immigration authorities and the Muhabarat, Egypt's intelligence agency. Following his arrest, he was charged with aggravated harassment 2, hate crime/stalking, stalking-cause fear, and stalking at employment.
A spokesperson for the New York City Police Department confirmed the incident to Fox News, stating, "A 24-year-old male victim stated to police that an individual approached him at his workplace multiple times and made anti-Islamic statements multiple times on different dates causing the victim to feel afraid and annoyed."
Jon Levine, a reporter for the New York Post, described the incident as an arrest made for "insulting the prophet Mohammad." In New York City, a hate crime is defined as any offense or unlawful act motivated substantially by a person's identification with a particular race, color, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, ancestry, national origin, or sexual orientation.
Seldowitz defended himself in an interview with The New York Times, stating, "I was not Islamophobic and that I had targeted the vendor only after he expressed support for Hamas." He admitted to regretting his actions, acknowledging that he had "expanded into insulting his religion and so on."
City Councilwoman Julie Menin condemned Seldowitz's actions, describing them as "unacceptable." She stated, "This individual targeted this street vendor day after day after day, threatened the vendor, clearly committed hate speech that was violent in nature and contained threats."
In one of the videos, Seldowitz can be heard asking the vendor, "Did you rape your daughter like Mohammed did?" When the vendor asked him to leave, Seldowitz refused. In another video, Seldowitz questioned the vendor about his permit and visa status, accusing him of supporting the killing of young children. The vendor denied these allegations and asked Seldowitz to leave.
Following the incident, Seldowitz was dismissed from his consultancy role at New York City-based Gotham Government Relations. The lobbying group issued a statement on their website, stating, "Gotham Government Relations has ended all affiliation with Stuart Seldowitz, an individual who hasnt contributed to our work in years. The video of his actions is vile, racist, and beneath the dignity of the standards we practice at our firm."
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