Salem Seleiman

On May 10, 2024, Seleiman was reportedly arrested on “hate crime assault and attempted gang assault charges” for attacking Joseph Borgen, a Jewish man, in Times Square on May 20, 2021. Seleiman was the reported ringleader of the group.

When interviewed by the New York Daily News after the attack, Borgen reported that his attackers appeared at the corner of W. 48th St. and Seventh Ave. Borgen said: “All of a sudden, I turn around and see someone chasing me.”

Borgen added: “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!’”

Following the attack, Borgen reportedly had a concussion and said: “I felt a liquid being poured on my face, and at first I thought I was getting urinated on…”

Borgen continued: “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 this other stuff that followed...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.”

On December 4, 2025, Seleiman was sentenced to two years in prison for the attack. He pleaded guilty to one count of assault in the second degree and one count of assault in the third degree as a hate crime.

After a WOL rally in Manhattan, Seleiman led [00:00:03] a violent group assault [00:00:03] on two pro-Israel men and punched one of them in the face. During the assault, Seleiman wore a white shirt, white shorts and a scarf with the colors of the Palestinian flag.

One day after the incident, Seleiman posted an Instagram video showing the assault. Commenting on his own post, Seleiman wrote: “Every Punch Felt Better Than The Last #FreePalestine #FreeGaza.”

Seleiman led the assault at a rally that WOL organized at the Israeli consulate in Manhattan during Israel’s Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW) in Gaza.

In May 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at major population centers in Israel. Israel responded by launching OGW, carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza.

Seleiman also breached [00:01:45] a police barricade with other anti-Israel activists.

On the same day as the protest, Seleiman shared an Instagram video showing activists burning [00:24:45] an Israeli flag and chanting: “Burn that s**t! Burn that s**t!”

Seleiman also joined [slides 2-6] Nerdeen Kiswani and five other WOL activists on top of the lion statues outside of the New York Public Library. The activists standing on the statues waved Palestinian flags and set off smoke cannisters.

Seleiman burned [00:03:05] an Israeli flag [slide 4] and raised his middle finger while he participated [00:37:16] in a violent counterprotest organized against a pro-Israel rally in Times Square on May 20, 2021. Seleiman fled [00:09:38] the scene once police declared the gathering unlawful and began arresting rioters.

In a video of the counterprotesters, Seleiman can be seen [00:03:05] holding up the burning flag. He was in the center of the screen wearing a black shirt, a white and black patterned keffiyeh over his face, leading rioters in burning an Israeli flag and holding up his middle finger at Israel supporters on the other side of a police-erected barrier.

At the rally, anti-Israel activists pushed against a police barricade erected to separate the anti-Israel and pro-Israel demonstrators. Anti-Israel demonstrators breached the barricade and marched toward the pro-Israel side, where many verbally assaulted pro-Israel activists. Some of the anti-Israel activists approached the pro-Israel activists and stole their Israeli flags.

The anti-Israel activists then moved back to their side of the barricade where they chanted at the pro-Israel side: “Nazis! Nazis!”

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) highlights as one possible contemporary example of anti-Semitism: “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” The U.S. State Department adopted the IHRA’s working definition of anti-Semitism in 2016. Over 40 countries have adopted the definition as well.

After demonstrators threw projectiles, police removed the barricade and proceeded to arrest several anti-Israel activists. Police declared that the “assembly is unlawful” and demanded the crowd disperse or be arrested. Despite police warnings, some rioters reportedly continued to throw projectiles at police, while others fled the scene.

The police proceeded to arrest several anti-Israel activists while others, including [00:09:36] Seleiman, fled [00:03:48] the scene. Seleiman also shared a video on Instagram of rioters running from the police.

In one of the videos of the incident, Seleiman is seen [00:09:36] on the right side of the screen while breaking past multiple police officers. He held a silver smartphone and wore a black shirt and a white and black patterned keffiyeh masking his face.

Police used bicycles to both disperse the rioters and pursue a number of them. Some rioters overturned police barricades to create obstacles in the street. Others threw garbage bags filled with trash onto the street while others dragged traffic barriers onto the street and overturned fencing.

On May 21, 2021, Seleiman posted one image to Facebook showing him burning the Israeli flag. Another Facebook photo showed him masked in a black and white keffiyeh, with a Palestinian flag behind him.

On the same day, WOL posted two Instagram posts that portrayed the anti-Israel rioters as victims and offered legal support and advice to those arrested.

Seleiman yelled [00:00:06] antisemitic and anti-Israel chants [00:35:12] during a WOL rally in Manhattan.

Seleiman joined [00:00:06] in the antisemitic chant, “Jaish Muhammad, sawfa ya’ud [the army of Muhammad is returning].” The phrase is the second half of a chant calling for violence against Jews.

“Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud [Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning]” is a chant recalling the early seventh-century Battle of Khaybar. At Khaybar, Muhammad and his followers massacred the Jews of that town and enslaved the surviving women as “wives.” The chant is often heard at anti-Israel rallies in the United States.

Seleiman featured in additional footage from the rally where he joined [00:35:12] in the chant: “From the River to the Sea! Palestine will be free!” He then chanted [00:35:32]: “It is right to rebel! Israel go to hell!”

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.

On May 23, 2021, Seleiman featured [00:00:17] in an Instagram video celebrating the release from police custody of Waseem Awawdeh, who had beaten a Jewish pro-Israel activist three days earlier. Awawdeh was charged with assault as a hate crime, menacing as a hate crime and aggravated harassment as a hate crime.

Seleiman appeared [00:00:17] in the video offering a cigarette to Awawdeh, who was cheered as a “hero” upon his release. Awadeh was sitting on the shoulders of Mohammed Othman, another counter-protester who was then wanted by the New York Police Department (NYPD).

Awawdeh had been arrested for beating Joseph Borgen with a pair of crutches while he was part of a mob of anti-Israel activists. The mob had physically attacked and reportedly yelled antisemitic slurs at Borgen as he headed to a pro-Israel rally in Times Square on May 20, 2021.

Borgen was beaten to the ground, kicked and punched. While lying on the ground, Awawdeh attacked Borgen with crutches. Borgen was also stomped on and pepper-sprayed. Another rioter, Faisal Elezzi, was also charged with assault as a hate crime, menacing as a hate crime and aggravated harassment as a hate crime.

On October 23, 2013, Seleiman was entered into mugshots.com for an arrest by the Fort Myers Police Department (FMPD) in Florida.

Seleiman was taken to jail for “SYNTH NARCOTIC-SELL (SCHEDULE I OR II), DRUGS-POSSESS (CNTRL SUB WO PRESCRIPTION).”

In the same mugshots.com entry, his “Last Known Address” at the time of his arrest was also listed as being in Fort Myers, FL. He was also listed as being 18 years old when he was arrested.

As of September 2022, Seleiman’s harri.com page said he worked as a Deli Clerk at Brooklyn Harvest Market from December 2017 to May 2018. He also worked as the “Front Manager” for Super Foodtown of Washington Heights from October 2016 to December 2017.

As of July 2022, Seleiman’s LinkedIn page said he was an Assistant Store Manager at Foodtown Grocery in New York.

As of May 2022, Seleiman’s Facebook page said he studied at Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW) and that he was a student at FSW’s Edison State College (ESC) since August 7, 2013. His Facebook page said he lived in Brooklyn, New York.

As of May 2022, Seleiman’s Instagram bio said: “CoachInfluencer Visionary Pro #Bitcoin …” In 2020, he wrote in multiple Instagram posts that he provided coaching services on investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.

BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.

The movement’s most notable achievement has been infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents and pro-terror activism on campus.