Second Suspect Arrested in Attack on NYC Jewish Man

A second individual suspected in the attack on a Jewish man in New York’s Times Square recently was arrested on Monday, law enforcement said.

NBC News reported Tuesday 25-year-old Faisal Elezzi of Staten Island has been charged with assault as a hate crime, menacing as a hate crime, and aggravated harassment as a hate crime, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) announced.

The outlet continued:

Elezzi is one of five men suspected of assaulting Joseph Borgen, 29, while making antisemitic statements during rival pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protests in Midtown on Thursday, according to the NYPD. Borgen, who was wearing a yarmulke, was knocked to the ground, punched, kicked, pepper-sprayed and hit with crutches during the assault, which was caught on bystander video.

Borgen said he had not made it to the protest when the incident occurred and had just left a subway station.

“They proceeded to assault me, beat me, kick me, punch me, hit me with crutches, hit me with flag poles,” he recalled.

⚠️One of these individuals has been arrested and charged with Assault as a Hate Crime.
Take a look at the other 3, do you know any of them?
☎️ 1-800-577-TIPS with any information. https://t.co/uZAdTdmoUo pic.twitter.com/7pqPRPl1OE

— NYPD Hate Crimes (@NYPDHateCrimes) May 24, 2021

Meanwhile, a Brooklyn man, Waseem Awawdeh, who is accused of beating Borgen, reportedly said from his jail cell he would “do it again,” prosecutors claimed Saturday.

“If I could do it again, I would do it again,” he allegedly told a jailer, according to a prosecutor present at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, adding, “I have no problem doing it again.”

During an interview Monday on Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) spoke about his resolution to condemn antisemitic rhetoric and why it needs to stop.

He cited congressional Democrats, whom he said were contributing to the problem.

“When they say things like calling Benjamin Netanyahu an ethno-nationalist on the floor of the United States Congress, when you call Israel an apartheid state as Democrat members have done on the floor of the United States Congress — that’s incendiary rhetoric, Brian,” he said.

“And we’ve had almost 200 instances of violence reported now against Jewish Americans. Again, that is just reported. We don’t know what else is out there. That’s too many. That’s too much. And this rhetoric is contributing to it, and it’s got to stop,” Hawley concluded.

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