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Another Attacker Indicted for Antisemitic Beating of Joey Borgen in New York
Joseph Borgen, victim of an antisemitic attack, addressing a rally in Long Island. Photo: Provided
The district attorney’s office of New York City’s Manhattan borough has indicted a sixth man for participating in a May 2021 gang assault on Joseph “Joey” Borgen, a Long Island man who had been attending a pro-Israel demonstration when he was brutally attacked by men screaming antisemitic epithets.
Salem Seleiman, 28, faces several charges with hate crime enhancements, including assault in the second and third degrees and attempted assault in the second degree. Arraigned in court on Thursday, Seleiman pleaded not guilty. He remains detained pending his ability to pay a $50,000 cash bond set by the court.
“As alleged, Salem Seleiman disrupted a peaceful pro-Israel rally when he participated in a brutal antisemitic attack on a Jewish man,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement announcing the actions. “Seleiman’s alleged conduct was abhorrent and many of the other individuals who joined him have already been convicted and are serving state prison sentences.”
He added, “Violently assaulting someone because of their religion is unacceptable, and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners, community groups, and local leaders to address attacks on the Jewish community.”
Borgen was wearing a kippah while walking in Manhattan when Mohammed Othman, along with five other men, ambushed him without being provoked. They also shouted antisemitic slurs at and discharged pepper-spray into the eyes of the pro-Israel advocate, who suffered a concussion, wrist injury, black eye, and bruises all over his body during the attack. Two years after the attack, Borgen told The Algemeiner that the injuries he sustained that day, both physical and psychological, continue to diminish his quality of life.
On Thursday, Borgen expressed hope that Seleiman’s indictment “sends a strong message that antisemitic crimes, or any hate crimes for that matter, will not be ignored.”
He added, “Other cases right now are not being taken seriously enough, particularly the conduct of Columbia University protesters whom District Attorney Bragg let off scot-free despite their participation in unprecedented antisemitic riots at their school. It’s important that we continue to fight for justice.”
New York City has seen an explosion of antisemitic hate crimes in recent years. According to an Algemeiner analysis of New York City Police Department (NYPD) Crime Statistics data, between October and April, there were 285 antisemitic hate crimes in the city, a figure just slightly lower than the total recorded in all of 2022.
Last year, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 8,873 antisemitic incidents— an average of 24 every day — across the US, amounting to a year unlike any experienced by the American Jewish community since the organization began tracking such data on antisemitic outrages in 1979. Incidents of harassment, vandalism, and assault all spiked by double and triple digits, with California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Massachusetts accounting for nearly half, or 48 percent, of all that occurred.
Breaking down the numbers, the ADL found a dramatic rise in the targeting of Jewish institutions such as synagogues, community centers, and schools, with 1,987 such incidents taking place in 2023 — a 237 percent increase which included over a thousand fake bomb threats, also known as “swattings.”
Other figures were equally staggering, with assaults and vandalism rising by 45 percent and 69 percent, respectively, while harassment soared by 184 percent. Antisemitic incidents on college campuses, which The Algemeiner has continued to cover extensively, rose 321 percent, disrupting the studies of Jewish students and leaving them uncertain about the fate of the American Jewish community.
The last quarter of the year proved the most injurious, the ADL noted, explaining that after Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, 5,204 antisemitic incidents rocked the Jewish community. Across the political spectrum, from white supremacists on the far right to ostensibly left-wing Ivy League universities, antisemites emerged to express solidarity with the Hamas terror group, spread antisemitic tropes and blood libels, and openly call for a genocide of the Jewish people in Israel.
“Despite these unprecedented challenges, American Jews must not give in to fear,” ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt has said in response to the surge of hate. “Even while we fight the scourge of antisemitism, we should be proud of our Jewish identities and confident of our place in American society. It may not feel so right now, but we have many more allies than enemies. And we call on all people of good will to stand with their Jewish friends and neighbors. We need your support and your allyship.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Another Attacker Indicted for Antisemitic Beating of Joey Borgen in New York first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump, Harris Tied 47%-47% in Final CNN Poll
Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump points towards Democratic presidential nominee and US Vice President Kamala Harris, during a presidential debate hosted by ABC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, Sept. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris are tied at 47% each among likely voters, according to CNN’s last nationwide poll before the Nov. 5 election.
The poll, conducted by telephone Oct. 20-23 among 1,704 registered voters and released on Friday, had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points among likely voters and plus or minus 3.2 percentage points among the full sample of registered voters.
The post Trump, Harris Tied 47%-47% in Final CNN Poll first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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2 Dead, Several Seriously Wounded After Hezbollah Rocket Hits Arab Israeli Town
The attack’s victims. Photo: i24 News
i24 News – Two Arab Israelis were killed by rocket shrapnel following a barrage of rockets launched by Hezbollah on the Galilee town of Majd al-Krum.
The victims were named as Hassan Suad, 21, and Arjwan Manaa, 35.
The post 2 Dead, Several Seriously Wounded After Hezbollah Rocket Hits Arab Israeli Town first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel and Hezbollah Trade Fire Across Lebanon Border, Blinken Calls for Urgent Resolution
A view shows damage at a site hit by an Israeli strike that killed a few journalists and wounded several others as they slept in guesthouses used by media, Lebanon’s health ministry and local media reported, in Hasbaya in southern Lebanon, October 25, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
An Israeli strike killed three journalists in southern Lebanon on Friday, Lebanese officials said, while Israel said Hezbollah killed two people in a strike in its north as Washington pressed for a ceasefire.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was an urgent need to get a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, a day after he said Washington did not want to see a protracted campaign in Lebanon by its ally Israel.
Israel launched its major offensive in Lebanon a month ago, saying it was targeting the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah group to secure the return home of tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from the north due to cross-border rocket attacks.
Beirut authorities say Israel’s Lebanon offensive has killed more than 2,500 people and displaced more than 1.2 million, sparking a humanitarian crisis.
Friday’s strike killed two people in Majd al-Krum in northern Israel, according to Israeli media, and followed a statement from Hezbollah saying that it targeted the northern Israeli town of Karmiel with a large missile salvo.
“The world must stop Iran now – before it’s too late,” Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said on X.
The conflict was sparked by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza, where Palestinian officials said Israeli strikes had killed at least 72 people since Thursday night.
The journalists killed in south Lebanon were Ghassan Najjar and Mohamed Reda of the pro-Iranian news outlet Al-Mayadeen and Wissam Qassem, who worked for Hezbollah’s Al-Manar, the outlets said in separate statements. Several others were wounded.
They had been staying at guesthouses in Hasbaya, a town not previously targeted, when it was hit around 3 a.m. (midnight GMT).
Five journalists have been killed in previous Israeli strikes while reporting on the conflict, including Reuters visual journalist Issam Abdallah on Oct. 13, 2023.
“This is a war crime,” Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary said. At least 18 journalists from six media outlets, including Sky News and Al-Jazeera were using the guesthouses.
“We heard the airplane flying very low – that’s what woke us up – and then we heard the two missiles,” Muhammad Farhat, a reporter with Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed, said.
His footage showed overturned and damaged cars, some marked “Press.” There was no immediate comment from Israel, which in general denies deliberately attacking journalists.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said Israeli forces had fired at their troops in an observation post in southern Dhayra on Tuesday, leading them to leave the post though they remained at the base.
Israel has denied deliberately targeting the force but says Hezbollah has built strongholds in close proximity to UNIFIL sites. Its previous strikes on UNIFIL posts have drawn international condemnation.
BORDER CROSSING STRUCK
Israel has used airstrikes to pound southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs, and has also sent ground forces into southern Lebanon against Hezbollah.
The military said it struck weapon production sites and Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut as well as Hezbollah targets around the Jousieh border crossing in the northern Bekaa Valley.
It said Hezbollah used the crossing, controlled by the Syrian military, to transfer weapons into Lebanon.
Lebanon’s transport minister Ali Hamieh said the Israeli strike had knocked the Jousieh crossing out of service, leaving the northern route as the only way to Syria.
The UN refugee agency said the strikes were hindering refugees’ attempts to flee. UNHCR spokesperson Rula Amin said some 430,000 people have crossed to Syria since Israel’s campaign started. Lebanon has previously been a major destination for refugees from the Syrian civil war.
“The attacks on the border crossings are a major concern,” Amin said. “They are blocking the path to safety for people fleeing conflict.”
‘REAL URGENCY’
The Israeli campaign spiraled out of a year of cross-border hostilities with Hezbollah, which opened fire on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas, a day after it launched the Oct. 7 attack.
“We have a sense of real urgency in getting to a diplomatic resolution and the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, such that there can be real security along border between Israel and Lebanon,” Blinken said in London.
He said it was important so “people at both sides of the border can have the confidence to… return to their homes”.
Hezbollah has kept fighting despite heavy blows, including the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah. Israel said five of its soldiers had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon, after announcing on Thursday the deaths of five others.
The Israeli military said it had uncovered an underground command center in a village close to the border with Israel and a site concealed in wooded terrain where Kornet anti-tank missiles, launchers, hand grenades and rifles were stored.
Washington has expressed hope that the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks, could provide an impetus for an end to fighting.
Officials said on Thursday that US and Israeli negotiators will gather in Doha in the coming days to try and restart talks toward a deal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, who met Blinken in London, said “ethnic cleansing” was taking place in northern Gaza. Israel denies such accusations, saying it is separating civilians from Hamas terrorists and moving them to safer areas.
Safadi said: “We are at the moment now where nothing justifies the continuation of the wars. Guns have to go silent.”
The post Israel and Hezbollah Trade Fire Across Lebanon Border, Blinken Calls for Urgent Resolution first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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