Outrageous Plea Deal for Antisemitic Attacker Waseem Awawdeh
In the wake of unprecedented attacks on Jews in NYC, Waseem Awawdeh, an unrepentant and violent antisemitic attacker could be back on the streets in only six months' time.
Awawdeh was charged with a violent hate crime for attacking a yarmulka-wearing Jewish man who was on his way to a pro-Israel rally in May 2021. Yet, the New York District Attorney's office is offering Awawdeh a plea bargain.
The plea deal would mean that Awawdeh would only spend six months in jail. The original charges against Awawdeh carried with them a sentence of upwards of 10 years in prison.
While arrested, Awawdeh declared, “If I could do it again, I would do it again,” according to a prosecutor at Awawdeh’s original arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.
It is outrageous that the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is willing to let Awawdeh, who is violent and unrepentant, back on the streets of New York after only six months.
Canary Mission has followed Awawdeh who has a long history of antisemitism.
For more information on Waseem Awawdeh, including video footage, click here.
Plea Deal Gains Waseem Awawdeh Reduced Charges
The original charges against Waseem Awawdeh include:
- Assault as a hate crime
- Gang assault
- Menacing
- Aggravated harassment as a hate crime
- Criminal possession of a weapon
If found guilty, those charges would have sent Awawdeh to prison for at least 10 years
Now the DA's office is willing to reduce the charges to a violent class D felony. This charge usually results in a three- to seven-year sentence in New York for a person found guilty at trial. But Awawdeh will only have to spend six months in prison. That's if he pleads guilty to these lesser charges and forfeits a trial.
Waseem Awawdeh’s Antisemitic Hate Crimes
Waseem Awawdeh violently attacked Joseph Borgen, a Jewish man wearing a yarmulka. Borgen was on his way to a pro-Israel rally on May 20, 2021, near New York’s Times Square. In an interview with the New York Daily News after the attack, Borgen said, “They hit me with fists, kicked me, hit me with crutches, hit me with signs ... They were saying, ‘You dirty Jew, f--- Israel, go back to your country!’ ”
Borgen also reported,
“I felt a liquid being poured on my face, and at first I thought I was getting urinated on, but it turned out I was getting Maced and pepper-sprayed. My face was on fire.”
Borgen suffered a concussion in the attack, but he said that the pain from the pepper spray
“was worse than the concussion and all this other stuff that followed.”
In addition, Borgen said,
“I have bruises all over my body. I have a black eye. My face is banged up. I’m just sore all over my body. They were kicking me in my ribs, my stomach.”
Awawdeh was charged with this assault along with Faisal Elezzi, Mahmoud Musa, and Mohammed Othman.
Other Attacks by Waseem Awawdeh
The same day, Awawdeh was part of a mob that attacked another Israel supporter. Awawdeh, who was using a crutch at the time, raised and swung his crutch wildly at the Israel supporter. At the same time, Ahmad Othman, a fellow pro-Palestinian protester, sucker-punched the man, knocking him to the ground.
At the same demonstration, Awawdeh also spat on a female police officer who was attempting to maintain a barricade separating the pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel demonstrators.
Also that same day, Awawdeh was filmed standing with other pro-Palestinian protesters on the back of a pick-up truck driving in a convoy through Manhattan's heavily Jewish Diamond district.
After Mohammed Othman, a fellow protester, threw a firework at passersby, Awawdeh could be seen waving his crutch in a celebratory manner.
The firework burned a woman (who was subsequently taken to the hospital). As police and passersby tended to the woman, anti-Israel protesters, including Awawdeh, drove and walked by shouting abuse from their car windows.
Awawdeh later returned on foot to the scene of the crime. While running from the police, Awawdeh fell and was arrested for his attack on Borgen.
Three days later, Awawdeh, who was held on $10,000 cash bail, was released. Awawdeh was greeted by friends, who yelled, “Put your head up! …You a f**kin’ Hero!!”
Awawdeh’s friends then hoisted him onto their shoulders as he held his crutch. His friends chanted, “Free, free Palestine!!” while Awawdeh answered and pumped his arms triumphantly.
Connections to Dangerous NYC Anti-Israel Group
Waseem Awawdeh has led anti-Israel chants at rallies organized by Within Our Lifetime, a radical anti-Israel activist group in New York City known for its violent street protests. Within Our Lifetime states on its website:
“We defend the right of Palestinians as colonized people to resist the zionist occupation by any means necessary.”
Another Within Our Lifetime activist, Saadah Masoud, pled guilty in November 2022 to being part of a conspiracy to commit violent hate crimes against Jews in April 2022, June 2021 and May 2021.
At anti-Israel rallies in New York City, Masoud has repeatedly assaulted Israel supporters, had multiple violent altercations with police and been arrested for assault and robbery. Masoud is scheduled to be sentenced March 3, 2023.
