In agreements with prosecutors recommending multi-year prison sentences, two men pleaded guilty in court at New York City on Thursday to assaulting a Jewish man at Times Square in an antisemitic attack outside a pro-Israel rally in 2021. 

The victim of the assault, Joseph Borgen, tells the Sun he is “satisfied with the results of the outcome,” adding that he gives the New York District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, credit for “getting heavy jail sentences that send a message” that individuals cannot “attack a Jew and get a slap-on-the-wrist penalty.”

“Antisemitic attacks will not be tolerated in Manhattan and these guilty pleas demonstrate the accountability my office will seek for crimes motivated by hate and bias,” Mr. Bragg said in a statement to the Sun.  

He added that “we will prosecute those who harm our fellow New Yorkers because of their religious faith or background and work closely with our communities to address the root causes of hate crimes to prevent others from being harmed.”

The two men, Mahmoud Musa and Mohammed Othman, were among a group of Pro-Palestinian demonstrators who beat the man, Joseph Borgen, as he was exiting the subway. 

Under their agreements with prosecutors, both men are recommended to be sentenced to five years in prison and five years supervised release, the district attorney’s office says. 

Both Musa and Othman pleaded guilty to second-degree assault as a hate crime, the district attorney’s office said, while Othman additionally pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted gang assault and to third-degree assault as a hate crime. Sentencing was scheduled for October 25.

Mr. Borgen had exited the Times Square Subway Station on his way to a nearby pro-Israel rally when he was subject to a what prosecutors describe as a “gang assault,” the Sun has reported. 

The group of assailants, which prosecutors said included Musa and Othamn, descended upon Mr. Borgen, proceeded to mace, kick, and call him a “dirty Jew.” 

In an interview with the Sun on Friday, Mr. Borgen recalled that he “was not wearing any visibly Pro-Israel paraphernalia at the time.” However, Mr. Borgen said that he was “wearing a yarmulke,” leading him to believe “I was attacked by the activists solely because I was Jewish.”

Waseem Awawdeh, who pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon last April, was also involved in the attack. 

Awawdeh was recorded hitting Mr. Borgen with a metal crutch while he lay on the ground. His plea deal faced backlash from Jewish organizations for its leniency and was subsequently increased to 18 months from six months incarceration. 

Among the other defendants, Faisal Elezzi also pleaded guilty to assault as a hate crime. The case of a minor, whose name was not released by authorities, is currently underway in Family Court, according to Hamodia. 

The assault, Borgen told the Sun, caused damage to his wrist requiring two surgeries and physical therapy.  

A New York City criminal court judge, Felicia Mennin, who oversaw Musa, Othman, and Awawdeh’s case, denounced the incident as, “despicable, disgraceful and not how people behave in civilized society.” Judge Mennin had previously rejected prosecutors’ initial, more lenient deal for Awawdeh.