Staten Islander gets 18 months in prison for anti-Semitic attacks

On Friday, a man was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to federal hate conspiracy charges in a series of anti-Semitic attacks in New York City.

Saada Massoud, 29, from Staten Island, was arrested in June after authorities said he punched and dragged a counter-protestor draped in an Israeli flag at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in April.

Prosecutors said he also confessed to assaulting a man wearing a Star of David necklace in May 2021 and a man wearing a yarmulke, a Jewish skullcap, a month later.

Massoud pleaded guilty in November and was sentenced by Judge Denise Kot. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement that the prosecution demonstrates that “hate violence is unacceptable.”

Masoud’s defense attorney, Ron Kubi, said the court’s verdict, which is at the bottom of the guidelines, indicates that the judge rejected the government’s argument that a “traumatized young Palestinian” is to blame for anti-Semitic acts committed by “white supremacists.”

“As much as the government tried to make it about Judaism, it was always about Israel,” Kubi said.

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