Tarek Bazrouk, a Palestinian-American activist and former City University of New York student, was released early on Tuesday after being sentenced to 17 months in federal prison in October 2025 for assaulting three Jews at pro-Israel demonstrations.
Activist groups, including CUNY for Palestine and PAL-Awda, stated that Bazrouk “was freed one month early as a result of his successful completion of an early release program.” The groups held a Brooklyn fundraiser for Bazrouk and two other men tied to antisemitic crimes on June 19.
“Just as Tarek was liberated today, the tens of thousands of prisoners who remain steadfast in Zionist prisons will be liberated,” they stated. “Until then, our struggle continues.”
The assaults included kicking a Jewish college student in the chest during a protest near the New York Stock Exchange in April 2024, punching a visibly Jewish Columbia University student during a December 2024 protest and punching a third Jewish victim in January 2025 at a pro-Israel rally in Manhattan’s Gramercy Park, according to prosecutors. The third victim was wearing a Star of David necklace and had an Israeli flag draped over his shoulders.
The U.S. Department of Justice said a search of Bazrouk’s phones uncovered “extensive pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah propaganda,” as well as evidence prosecutors said showed antisemitic bias.
An online fundraiser supporting Bazrouk, set up by the Anti-Imperialist Student Front, has raised over $11,000 from 338 separate donors as of Wednesday morning.
“Being sent to prison for hate crimes should be a rock-bottom moment,” Stu Smith, an investigative analyst at the Manhattan Institute, told JNS. “Tarek Bazrouk was facing up to 30 years before a sweetheart plea deal spared him from that fate.”
He added that the best thing Bazrouk can do “is divorce himself from the movement that helped bring him to that point.”
“Unfortunately, now that he is free, the movement will likely love-bomb him, lionize him, and try to pull him right back in. He should resist it,” Smith said. “Deradicalization, normalcy and a happy life would be the real victory here.”
