The former Obama official now faces charges of hate crimes, stalking and harassment.
In a video that has since gone viral, former Obama administration official Stuart Seldowitz, 64, was caught hurling hateful comments at a halal cart worker in New York. He is now charged with a hate crime.
The incident occurred at the Upper East Side food car at Second Avenue and 83rd Street. In the video, the former State Department official is recorded saying, “I’m going to put up big signs here that say, ‘This guy believes in Hamas,'” “You’re a terrorist, you support terrorism,” and “Yes, he killed 4,000 Palestinian children.” “You know what? It wasn’t enough.”
Youtube
Additional cell phone footage of the exchange shows Seldowitz at the Adam Halal food cart, showing him spewing incredibly offensive rhetoric intended to irritate the food cart attendant. Using a translator, Mohamed Hussein, 24, said the former government official was not a client at the time, but approached him to ask where he was from. When Hussein responded to Egypt, his translator states: “The guy started telling him that you’re supporting Hamas.”
That’s when the food cart attendant began recording Seldowitz. The video does not show what led to the intense interaction between the two.
news source CBS New York attempted to contact Seldowitz, who has since alleged to other outlets that Hussein stated that he supported what Hamas was doing and that is what upset him so much.
However, this is a claim that Hussein continues to rebuke.
“We would rather he came and apologized instead of trying to change history,” said Islam Moustafa, co-owner of the food stall.
“We don’t have any problems with anyone. Don’t try to create problems. People could die from something like this,” said Yasser Nawer, another cart attendant.
Apparently, this isn’t the first time Seldowitz has interacted with the food cart in ways that continue to escalate. Nawer said Seldowitz repeatedly approached the car to provoke them, something he cannot understand given the growing tensions over the conflict in the Middle East.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, what you’re trying to say. Anyway the situation is very irritating, we don’t need more spice in the situation,” she added.
The Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating anti-Semitism and extremism, has documented a 316% increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States during the month following the war, compared to the corresponding period in 2022. .
In recent articles, celebrities from various backgrounds have also been criticized for “insensitive” and “hateful” comments about the conflict, including comedians Pete Davidson and Dave Chapele, and actresses Melissa Barrera and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Either way, we hope the food cart owners can recover from this and that Seldowitz can learn from his mistake.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn