A Jewish hate crime victim who was pummeled during clashes between Israel and Palestinian supporters two years ago said Wednesday that New York pols need to “step” up amid renewed demonstrations — as one of his five attackers was sentenced to more than five years behind bars.
Joseph Borgen, 29, called out local politicians like Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul for being “nowhere to be found” when it comes to holding anti-Israel protesters accountable, citing a pro-Palestinian march in Manhattan Monday in which demonstrators happened upon actor Alec Baldwin and berated him.
“I look around New York City and saw what happened Monday and the lack of accountability of what’s going on,” Borgen said outside Manhattan Supreme Court.
“The sad part is, the mayor knew about this, the governor knew about this, the congressmen knew about this and they didn’t do anything. They don’t want to step up,” Borgen continued.
“They make all these wonderful speeches at our rallies but when push comes to shove, they’re nowhere to be found.”
Borgen’s comments came as the fourth of five men convicted in his attack, Mohammed Othman, was sentenced to 5 ½ years in state prison followed by five years post-release supervision.
Borgen, who was wearing a yarmulke, was beaten by the pack of men in Midtown on May 20, 2021, during demonstrations over hostilities between Israel and Hamas at the time.
The hateful attackers hurled antisemitic slurs during the caught-on-video beating that later went viral.
The city has seen a flare up of protests in the aftermath of Hamas Oct. 7 surprise attack and Israel’s retaliatory strikes on the Gaza Strip — as well as an increase in antisemitic crime.
Othman, 26, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault as a hate crime in October and had faced between 3 1/2 and 15 years behind bars, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Othman pepper-sprayed Borgen three separate times in the attack before spraying an innocent bystander who tried intervening when Borgen was struggling on the ground.
Assistant District Attorney Jonathon Junig said that Othman’s phone records showed that the attack was premeditated — asked the court for a sentence of five years in prison.
Othman’s defense attorney, Leo Duvalle, tried downplaying Othman’s role in the attack in a bid to get the minimum of — telling Judge Felicia Mennin that pepper-spraying wasn’t as bad as kicking or beating someone.
He painted his client as “kind, compassionate and thoughtful” and as someone who has never expressed “any animus or hatred or vitriol towards people of the Jewish faith.”
“He works for a Jewish business. He has Jewish friends. These people expressed surprised this incident happened,” Duvalle told the court.
Borgen has said that he still suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and wrist pain from the attack, which left him with a concussion and other injuries.
Othman apologized to Borgen in court and said he had made a “solemn promise” to never behave like this again.
But it didn’t sway the judge, who tacked on an additional six months to the sentence prosecutors requested because Othman pepper-sprayed Borgen multiple times, as well as a bystander — and also threw a firecracker from a truck that caused a woman to suffer second degree burns, which he wasn’t charged for, during the clashes.
“In other words, Mr. Othman had three opportunities to disengage from the assault and he did not choose so,” Mennin said.
Borgen said he was satisfied with the sentencing and hoped that it would discourage future violence against Jewish people and anyone else.
Othman became the fourth attacker sentenced in the attack. Most recently, Mahmoud Musa, 23, who said “Free Palestine” as he exited the courtroom at his sentencing last month, received the harshest sentence of seven years.
Waseem Awadeh — who said in a jail cell following his arrest he would “do it again,” according to prosecutors — got an 18-month sentence in June after pleading to a lesser charge.
Another defendant, Faisal Elezzi, was supposed to get off with three years probation before he was arrested for selling pot illegally, landing him with a 60-day prison sentence.
The final defendant, Mohammed Said Othman, pleaded guilty to attempted gang assault in September.
Prosecutors promised him a three-year sentence as part of his plea deal.
His sentencing is set for January 31.