Last Updated on November 27, 2023
Stuart Seldowitz, a pro-Israel former State Department official and advisor to 44th President Barack Obama, was arrested on hate crime and stalking charges in New York City after video footage of him tormenting a Muslim halal food vendor went viral. In one portion of the footage, Seldowitz referred to Israel as “we,” despite his former role in the United States government, and called for the slaughter of Palestinian children.
The video footage, which has been widely shared on social media, documents multiple separate incidents in which Seldowitz appears to have shown up at a halal food cart run by Egyptian-American Mohammed Hussein for the sole purpose of subjecting him to anti-Islamic taunts and bragging about the death of Muslim children in Gaza at the hands of Israeli forces.
In one of the videos, Seldowitz hangs around Hussein’s food cart taunting him about his Islamic faith while calling him a supporter of Hamas. Despite Hussein asking him to leave his cart multiple times, Seldowitz continues to hang around the cart with a barrage of insults, insisting that he has a right to do so.
At one point in the video, Seldowitz waves an Israeli flag button at Hussein.
“You’re a terrorist! You support terrorism!” Seldowitz shouted at Hussein in the video.
“You support killing little children!” he added. “…You’re a terrible person!”
“You kill children, not me. Go!” Hussein replied, once again ordering Seldowitz to get away from his food cart.
“If we killed 4,000 Palestinian kids, you know what, it wasn’t enough! It wasn’t enough!” Seldowitz said, apparently referring to Israel as “we” despite his former role in the United States government.
Watch the video footage below:
"If we killed 4,000 Palestinian kids, it wasn't enough…"
In a separate incident, US State Department veteran Stuart Seldowitz continues his racist harassment of a street vendor in New York.pic.twitter.com/GP49aoxFzg
— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) November 21, 2023
That video clip was one of multiple that have been released online and appear to show a continued effort from Seldowitz to harass and kick off altercations with Hussein, who each time remained calm while telling Seldowitz to leave him alone.
In another clip posted to social media, Seldowitz tells Hussein that he will call American immigration authorities on him (though he’s a U.S. citizen) and send Egyptian intelligence after his parents.
“Does your father like his fingernails? They’ll take them out one by one.” Seldowtiz threatened, before going on to hurl sexually charged insults at Hussein about the female members of his family.
The video, which has been viewed over 44 million times in one X post alone, led to Seldowitz being identified, and to revelations that he is a longtime US State Department employee who, according to the X community notes, “was deputy director/senior political officer in the U.S. State Department’s Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs from 1999 to 2003,” placing him in both the Clinton and Bush Administrations, in addition to his work an Obama National Security Advisor.
Watch more footage below:
https://twitter.com/itslaylas/status/1727041586666856499
After being identified, Stuart Seldowitz was arrested by the NYPD on fourth-degree hate crime stalking and second-degree aggressive harassment charges. He reportedly admitted to The Daily Beast that he was indeed the man in the videos.
In photos posted online showing his arrest, Seldowitz smirked at reporters and onlookers, seemingly amused by the entire situation.
At his Thanksgiving Day arraignment, Seldowitz pled not guilty to the charges and was quickly released from custody, presumably under the “criminal justice reform” policies championed by left-wing Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who is prosecuting the case against Seldowitz.
If convicted, Seldowitz faces up to one year in New York City’s infamous jail at Rikers Island.
