All four men who beat Joseph Borgen on May 20, 2021, during a rally associated with Israel’s 11-day conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, will spend time in prison for their crime.
Mohammed Said Othman, 29, received three years in prison on Jan. 31 for second-degree attempted gang assault and third-degree assault as a hate crime. Previous convictions for others included Mahmoud Musa, 25, the ringleader in the attack, who was sentenced to seven years after pleading guilty. Mohamed Othman, 26, received five years.
Waseem Awawdeh received the lightest sentence—six months—due to his joining the attack later on in the beating. While in jail he allegedly said, “If I could do it again, I would do it again” and “I have no problem doing it again.” Awadeh is scheduled for release in June.
Borgen suffered a concussion as a result of the beating nearly three years ago.
“These defendants violently targeted and assaulted another individual simply because he is Jewish,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. “These multi-year prison sentences make clear that physically attacking someone because of their religion is never acceptable.”
Following the announcement of the sentence, Borgen, who was 29 at the time of the attack, spoke out about current pro-Hamas protests in the city as a result of the war following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, saying “I got texts from my friends the other night … that protesters were marching on the Upper East Side and took over 87th and Second, and were standing for 20 minutes. … Why aren’t they being arrested? They’re breaking the law openly.”
