A man accused of being part of a group that carried out a vicious assault on a Jewish man in Midtown Manhattan in 2021, who told prison guards he would “do it again,” has been offered a lenient plea deal by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The agreement offered to Waseem Awawdeh, who was arrested for brutally assaulting Joseph Borgen at a pro-Israel even in May 2021 would see him serving only a six month sentence, according to the New York Post.
The deal would be a coup for the alleged assailant who faces 10 years in prison if convicted of the heinous crime.
Awawdeh, 24, is accused of attacking Borgen using the victim’s crutches to hit him as well as punching, kicking, and using pepper-spray on him.
The suspect allegedly called his victim a “dirty Jew” and said, “Fuck Israel, Hamas is going to kill all of you.”
According to prosecutors, after he was arrested, Awawdeh told one of his guards “If I could do it again, I would do it again,”
“I have no problem doing it again,” he added.
Awawdeh was one of several assailants who were arrested after Borgen was attacked. The victim, who wears a kippah, was walking to a pro-Israel rally in Midtown Manhattan when the assault occurred.
“I felt a liquid being poured on my face, and at first I thought I was getting urinated on,” Borgen told the Post shortly after the assault. “But it turned out I was getting Maced and pepper-sprayed. My face was on fire. That pain was worse than the concussion and all the other stuff that followed.”
Awawdeh, of Brooklyn, along with Mahmoud Musa and Faisal Elezzi, both from Staten Island, were charged with assault as a hate crime, harassment and gang assault.
The Lawfare Project, the world’s leading organization dedicated to protecting the civil and human rights of Jewish people, reacted to Bragg’s plea deal offer to Awawdeh on Thursday, charging that the overture demonstrated that Bragg felt there should be no consequences for hate crimes in New York.
“The Lawfare Project represents the victim, Matt Greenman, in a similar hate crime that was, thankfully, taken over from Alvin Bragg’s office by the Department of Justice. We have seen firsthand that Mr. Bragg’s office has dragged its feet on prosecuting hate crimes, and this plea deal is representative of Bragg’s approach. No, or minimum, consequences for hate crimes sends the message that it’s open season for Jews in New York City,” they said in a statement.
“A society that is lenient and permissive for Jew-haters is neither safe nor secure for the Jewish people. This is why it is crucial to properly enforce the law and impose adequate consequences on people who commit hate crimes.”
The Lawfare Project urged New York Governor Kathy Hochul to remove Bragg from office for refusing to keep members of the Jewish community safe.
“We call on Governor Kathy Hochul to use her constitutional authority to conduct an investigation and remove Mr. Bragg from office. District attorneys who fail to protect the civil rights of members of minority communities – like the Jewish community – break the trust emplaced in them by the people and must be removed from office.”
