Press Release

Plea Deal Gains Awawdeh Reduced Charges

Awawdeh was originally charged with assault as a hate crime, gang assault, menacing, aggravated harassment as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon. If found guilty, those charges would have sent Awawdeh to prison for at least 10 years

Under the plea deal, the charge would be reduced to a violent class D felony, which usually results in a three- to seven-year sentence in New York for a person found guilty at trial. However, Awawdeh is being offered only six months in prison if he pleads guilty to these lesser charges and forfeits a trial.

Awawdeh’s Antisemitic Hate Crimes

Awawdeh is accused of violently attacking Joseph Borgen who 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.”

Borgen added at the time: “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 reportedly declared from his jail cell “If I could do it again, I would do it again.” Awawdeh was charged for this assault along with Faisal Elezzi, Mahmoud Musa, and Mohammed Othman.

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.