Ex-White House Adviser Charged With Hate Crime After Islamophobic Rants
A former White House adviser has been charged with a hate crime after videos of him targeting food cart employees with Islamophobic rants went viral.
Stuart Seldowitz was charged with aggravated harassment and three counts of stalking, one of which is a hate crime, New York police told VICE News Wednesday night.
Videos of Seldowitz berating an employee at Adam Halal Food Cart surfaced on Tuesday. Seldowitz called the worker, 24-year-old Mohamed Hussein, a “terrorist” and said the killing of 4,000 Palestinian children in the Israel-Hamas war “wasn’t enough.” He repeatedly called the prophet Muhammad a “rapist” and asked Hussein, “Did you rape your daughter like Muhammad did?”
Seldowitz was acting director for the National Security Council South Asia Directorate under former President Barack Obama and was deputy director/senior political officer in the U.S. State Department’s Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs from 1999 to 2003.
After the videos surfaced, he was dropped by lobbying group Gotham Government Relations and GDC Inc., a logistics company that services war zones and natural disasters.
Seldowitz has not replied to VICE News’ repeated requests for comment.
He told City & State he said things he “probably” shouldn't have said and said he got angry that Hussein expressed support for Hamas—an allegation Hussein, who speaks very limited English, denied Wednesday.
Hussein said Seldowitz harassed him three times, all of which he filmed; his boss Islam Moustafa said Seldowitz also harassed one of his night shift employees.
Moustafa said he would like Seldowitz to apologize without blaming Hussein.
“I regret the whole thing happened and I'm sorry,” Seldowitz told City & State. “In the heat of the moment, I said things that I shouldn't have said.”
The videos show Seldowitz laughing as he asks Hussein how he feels about using the Qur’an as a toilet and telling him he will be deported back to Egypt.
“I’m going to put up big signs here that says ‘This guy believes in Hamas,’” Seldowitz tells Hussein in the video.
Upper East Side residents dropped by the food cart Wednesday morning to show their support for the employees. One of them, Pamela Wiznitzer said the workers make her feel safer in the neighborhood.
She said Seldowitz has “hatred in his heart” but that he doesn't’ represent the community.
“Don't fuck with my people,” she said.
Seldowitz is a three-time winner of the State Department’s Superior Honor award, according to his now-deleted biography on Gotham’s website.
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Manisha Krishnan, Khareem Sudlow
