Suspect in Antisemitic Attack in Manhattan Says ‘I Would Do It Again’ as Police Seek Four Accomplices
by Algemeiner Staff
The suspect in a brutal antisemitic assault on a Jewish man in Manhattan on Thursday displayed no remorse on Saturday, saying he would “do it again,” the New York Post reported.
Waseem Awawdeh, 23, whose four accomplices are still being sought by police, told his victim “F*** Israel, Hamas is going to kill all of you” and called him a “dirty Jew.”
Now being held on $10,000 bail, Awawdeh said, “If I could do it again, I would do it again. I have no problem doing it again,” according to prosecutors.
The victim, Joseph Borgen, 29, was identifiably Jewish due to wearing a kippah, and was ambushed by Awawdeh and four other thugs, beaten, and pepper sprayed.
“I felt a liquid being poured on my face, and at first I thought I was getting urinated on,” he said. “But it turned out I was getting maced and pepper-sprayed. My face was on fire. That pain was worse than the concussion and all this other stuff that followed.”
“I have a concussion,” he explained. “I had an X-ray on my wrist. It’s not broken, but it’s messed up. Every time I move it, it’s in pain, probably sprained. I have bruises all over my body. I have a black eye. My face is banged up. I’m just sore all over my body. They were kicking me in my ribs, my stomach.”
The New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force released photos of the four other suspects and asked anyone with information to come forward.
⚠️Thursday May 20th, approx. 6:44 PM, at 1604 Broadway, a male, 29, wearing a yarmulke, was assaulted by a group of males who, knocked him down, punched, kicked and pepper sprayed him and hit him with crutches, while making anti-Semitic statements. Know them? ☎️1-800-577-TIPS pic.twitter.com/NDgmJ79MHt
— NYPD Hate Crimes (@NYPDHateCrimes) May 22, 2021