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Former Lyft Driver Facing 10-Year Jail Sentence for Antisemitic Assault on Jewish Passenger
Former Lyft driver Csaba John Csukás captured on camera during an assault on a Jewish passenger at San Francisco International Airport. Photo: Screenshot via Jewish News of Northern California
A former Lyft driver in San Francisco is facing a maximum 10-year jail sentence and a fine of $250,000 for a brutal assault on a Jewish passenger last October.
Csaba John Csukás, 39, was arrested on Wednesday for the Oct. 26 assault at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). According to the indictment against him, he struck his passenger — an unnamed Israeli who lives in the San Jose region — in the face after learning his nationality. The victim was rushed to the hospital where he received treatment for minor injuries.
The indictment stated that when Csukás, a resident of Daly City, “approached the victim at a predetermined pickup location, [he] asked the victim if the victim was Jewish or Israeli, stated that he would not transport a Jewish or Israeli person, and attacked the victim by striking the victim in the face with his fist.” The assault occurred less than three weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom in southern Israel, amid a rising tide of antisemitic attacks in the US and around the world.
Csukás appeared in court on Wednesday “charged with committing a federal hate crime which prohibits, among other things, causing bodily injury because of the actual or perceived religion or national origin of a person in circumstances affecting interstate commerce,” according to a statement issued by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
Csukás faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the hate crime charge. “If convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors,” the DOJ said.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland warned that the DOJ was determined to prosecute discriminatory actions like those of Csukás.
“The defendant, a rideshare driver, is charged with assaulting a rider because he thought the rider was Jewish or Israeli,” Garland said in a statement. “No one in this country should live in fear because of how they worship or where they come from. The Justice Department will aggressively prosecute those who perpetrate hate-fueled violence motivated by antisemitism or by bias of any kind.”
In a statement to the Jewish News of Northern California shortly after the attack, Lyft said that it “unequivocally condemns antisemitism and all other forms of discrimination on the basis of religion or country of origin.” The company said it had made contact with the victim “to extend our support and assistance, have permanently removed the driver’s account from the platform, and stand ready to assist law enforcement with any investigation.”
The post Former Lyft Driver Facing 10-Year Jail Sentence for Antisemitic Assault on Jewish Passenger first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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250 Hezbollah Terrorists Including 21 Commanders Eliminated in Ground Op
DF operating in southern Lebanon. Photo: IDF Spokesperson
i24 News – The Israeli military eliminated 250 Hezbollah terrorists including 21 commanders in four days of ground combat, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Friday.
IDF soldiers operating in southern Lebanon have uncovered vast caches of weapons and munitions in civilian residences, showing how central embedding within civilian population is to Hezbollah’s mode of warfare.
Meanwhile, heavy strikes targeting the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh in southern Beirut were ongoing, Lebanese media reported.
The post 250 Hezbollah Terrorists Including 21 Commanders Eliminated in Ground Op first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Airstrikes Launched on Several Parts of Yemen, Houthi Al Masirah TV says
Illustrative. Hodeidah, Yemen, July 20, 2024. Houthi Military Media/Handout via REUTERS
Airstrikes were launched on Friday at several parts of Yemen including its capital Sanaa and Hodeidah airport, Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthi movement controlling much of Yemen, and residents said.
Strikes also targeted the south of Dhamar city and the southeast of al-Bayda province, the channel added.
Residents said that the attack on al-Bayda province targeted several Houthi military outposts.
Al Masirah TV reported that the strikes had been carried out by the United States and British forces, but a British government source said Britain was not involved.
Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since last November in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel‘s war with Hamas.
The attacks have drawn US and British retaliatory strikes and disrupted global trade as ship owners reroute vessels away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to sail the longer route around the southern tip of Africa.
Following the airstrikes, a Houthi spokesman called the attack “a desperate attempt,” adding that “Yemen will not be deterred by these attacks and will continue its steadfastness in confronting the enemies.”
The post Airstrikes Launched on Several Parts of Yemen, Houthi Al Masirah TV says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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IDF Kills Hamas Commander in Tulkarem
Illustrative. Israeli troops during counterterrorism activity in Tulkarem, northwestern Samaria, September 2024. Photo: IDF.
JNS.org – An Israeli Air Force fighter jet conducted a rare strike in Tulkarem in the West Bank on Thursday night, targeting top Hamas terrorist Zahi Yaser Abd al-Razeq Oufi.
The Palestinian Authority reported at least 18 fatalities in the strike, with a local security source telling Agence France-Presse it was the deadliest in Judea and Samaria since the Second Intifada.
Ayyth Radwan, the head of Islamic Jihad’s Tulkarem branch, was also reportedly killed.
Oufi was planning a terrorist attack “in the immediate time frame,” according to the Israel Defense Forces, and directed the thwarted car bombing last month near Ateret in the Binyamin region of Samaria.
There were no casualties in the incident, which Israel Ganz, the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, called a “great miracle.”
The IDF said Oufi was involved in smuggling weapons to terrorists who perpetrated several recent attacks against Israelis, including some that resulted in injuries to civilians.
He also “worked to establish terrorist networks on behalf of Hamas and assisted terror operatives in the area to carry out significant shooting and explosive attacks,” added the military.
The post IDF Kills Hamas Commander in Tulkarem first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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