Another suspect arrested in violent anti-Semitic attack in New York in 2021.

Prosecutors said another suspect was arrested in connection with a videotaped beating of a Jew during a rally near Times Square almost two years ago.

Mohammed Said Othman, 27, was arrested on Thursday morning and later appeared in court on an indictment in connection with the May 20, 2021 attack on Joseph Borgen, who was knocked to the ground, punched, kicked, pepper sprayed, beaten with crutches and beaten anti-Semitic statements on Broadway near West 49th Street.

According to the indictment, he was charged with gang assault in the first degree and assault in the third degree as a hate crime.

At the time of arraignment, Judge Juan Mercan set bail at $75,000 in cash.

The prosecutor’s office demanded a larger bail – $200,000 in cash – and Saeed Otman surrender his passport.


Mohammed Saeed Othman, 27, was charged with first-degree gang assault and third-degree assault as a hate crime in connection with a brutal attack caught on video in May 2021.
Rob Bertrand via Storyful

He will next appear in court on March 9.

Police sources said another man named Mohammed Othman – Saeed Othman’s younger brother – had previously been arrested in connection with the attack.

Wasim Awade, Mahmoud Musa, Faisal Elezzi were also charged with the crime.


Protesters walk around with signs that say: "An end to hatred for Jews."
The attack came at the height of tensions between Jews and Palestinians, with several clashes in the Big Apple.
Stephen Hirsh

During the arraignment, prosecutors said Awadeh told the jailers that he did not regret it.

“If I could do it again, I would do it again,” he said. “I have no problem doing it again.”

However, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office granted Avada a lucrative six-month plea offer.

That would be a slap in the face compared to what he faces up to seven years if found guilty on charges including attempted assault as a hate crime at trial.

A spokesman for Bragg’s office defended the deal on Thursday, saying Awade did not initiate the attack, but rather was the sixth person who joined and left before it was completed.


Wasim Awadeh seen in court.
Wasim Awada was offered a lucrative six-month plea deal.
Stephen Hirsh

A spokesman noted that Awade is accused of beating the victim with a crutch, but he did not spray pepper spray, beat or kick Borgen, and that he had no criminal record.

“We do this in all of our cases, a kind of individualized justice depending on the role of the person in the accused actions,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said last week. “We’re looking specifically at the person, the crime, and the person’s role in crime.”

But the prosecutor added that “we take these cases extremely seriously.”

“This kind of hatred has no place in Manhattan.”

Borgen recalled the attack in an interview with The Post a day after it happened.


Wasim Awade, 24, in court.
Avade is accused of beating the victim with a crutch.
Stephen Hirsh

“I tried to run away, and the next thing I realized, I was surrounded by a whole crowd of people who continued to kick me, punch me, beat me,” Borgen said. “I felt liquid being poured on my face and at first I thought he was urinating on me, but it turned out that I had been sprayed with pepper spray.”

“My face was on fire,” he added. “That pain was worse than the concussion and everything that followed.”

He said that after the attack he had to “question that he was wearing a yarmulke in public”.

The incident came amid high tensions between Jews and Palestinians, as well as several clashes in New York during protests and demonstrations.

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