A man who participated in a gang assault on a Jew by hitting him with a metal crutch has been sentenced to 18 months in jail — after prosecutors’ initial offer of six months was rejected by a judge as too lenient. Waseem Awawdeh, who previously pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted assault as a hate crime, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, was sentenced Tuesday to 364 days in jail for the first offense and six months for the second, to be served consecutively for a total of 18 months.
The incident occurred May 20, 2021, as Israel and Hamas were warring in Gaza, and was the most infamous of a string of attacks by supporters of Palestinians on Jews in New York and around the country. The victim, Joseph Borgen, was walking near Times Square heading to a pro-Israel rally when he was set upon and beaten by five Arab men and one juvenile. Borgen told Hamodia he was simply wearing a yarmulke and no Israel paraphernalia, and that he did not exchange any words with his assailants prior to the assault. Borgen, then 29, suffered multiple injuries including a concussion. He had one surgery on his wrist, will need another, and still goes to physical therapy twice a week.
Prosecutors initially offered a plea deal to Awawdeh of six months’ jail time followed by five years post-release supervision, but that offer was rejected by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Felicia Mennin. That initial offer was also opposed by Borgen and Jewish organizations. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office subsequently came back with the 18-month offer, which Mennin, and Awawdeh, accepted.
In imposing sentence Tuesday, Mennin said, “The behavior of the group [of assailants] was despicable, disgraceful and not how people behave in civilized society.” The New York Post reported that at the time of his arrest, Awawdeh, then 23, allegedly told a jail guard, “If I could do it again, I would do it again,” and, “I have no problem doing it again,” according to statements by prosecutors in court at the time. When he pleaded guilty in April 2023, Awawdeh was required to make a public apology. But in his victim impact statement Tuesday, Borgen said he doesn’t believe that Awawdeh is truly sorry.
“The only thing he’s remorseful for, in my opinion, is for getting caught,” Borgen said, and accused Awawdeh of having stared him down during and following previous court appearances. “I’m supposed to believe because you gave some meaningless apology in court that you’re sorry all of a sudden? Honestly, I do not.” Borgen told Hamodia he is “pleased” that the original six-month offer was raised “to a more just term,” but that ultimately, he believes 18 months is not enough, either. “Why is he getting a deal? Why is he getting a break?” Borgen said in court, calling the sentence a “slap on the wrist.”
“I wanted this to go to trial. I wanted to see justice.” In addition to his physical injuries, Borgen said there is “some mental trauma I’m still dealing with,” and that he is “dumbfounded” by this and other similar incidents. “Never in my life did I think in a place like New York City someone would have to look over their shoulder because of who they are and what they believe.”
Awawdeh’s attorney, Peter Frankel, said in court that his client is not anti-Semitic, and that “he should not be judged by that one mistake that he made.”
“Aside from this very unfortunate incident, there’s nothing that I have seen from him that would indicate that he should be characterized by this mistake,” Frankel said. Frankel told Hamodia that Awawdeh’s comments to a jailer that he “would do it again,” was “taken completely out of context,” and what Awawdeh had in fact been saying was he would again go to a pro-Palestinian rally despite pro-Palestinian protestors being subject to abuse. Frankel also told Hamodia he believed the plea deal sentence was too harsh.
“I thought that based on his background and history, his lack of any criminal history, family, and participation in this crime — meaning he was involved for a short few seconds, he did not start it, he was not there at the end of it, he ran over and then immediately left — I thought that his participation called for a more lenient sentence, based on my 30 years of experience, including as a former prosecutor,” Frankel said. Awawdeh was arrested in two road-rage incidents in Brooklyn after this assault, but both of those cases were dismissed. He was taken away in handcuffs immediately following sentencing Tuesday. “No one should ever feel unsafe because of their religion,” a Manhattan DA spokesperson said in a statement, “and we do not tolerate the anti-Semitic hate displayed by the defendant in this case.”
Another defendant, Faisal Elezzi, who had less involvement in the assault, pleaded guilty in April to third-degree attempted assault as a hate crime, for a promised sentence of three years’ probation with required continued compliance with anti-bias programming through Queens Counseling for Change. His formal sentencing will be in July. The trial for the other three adult defendants — Mohammed Othman, Mohammed Said Othman and Mahmoud Musa, who face more serious charges than Awawdeh and face years in prison if convicted — is expected to begin August 1.
By Reuvain Borchardt, Reprinted with permission from Hamodia
