US charges NY man with hate crimes over Columbia protests

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

US charges NY man with hate crimes over Columbia protests

Reuters
Wed, May 7, 2025 at 8:18 PM EDT 1 min read

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice charged a New York man with federal hate crimes in an indictment unsealed on Wednesday, accusing him of assaulting Jewish victims, including two Columbia University students, during three separate protests over the war in Gaza.

The DOJ said that Tarek Bazrouk, 20, "deliberately targeted and assaulted Jewish victims at protests relating to the Israel/Gaza war." Bazrouk was arrested on Wednesday morning.

Bazrouk's case appears to be the first time the DOJ has brought federal hate crime charges related to the recent Columbia protests. A DOJ spokesperson could not confirm that information.

The assaults allegedly all took place in Manhattan, at an April 2024 protest outside the New York Stock Exchange, a December 2024 protest outside Columbia University, and a January 2025 protest near Gramercy Park.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-charges-ny-man-hate-001808051.html

[Johnny2X2X]

1. Good

This was sickening. Equating just regular Jewish people in the US with what Israel is doing in Gaza is just wrong and plain Antisemitism. Heck, the most visible Gaza supporter in my FB Feed is a Jewish kid I went to college with. Jewish Americans have nothing to do with Netanyahu, he's the leader of another country, not this one. It goes towards the common Antisemitic bit that American Jews are loyal to Israel and not the US.

People are more complex, trying to hold all Jewish people accountable for what some Jewish people are doing on the other side of the world is just as wrong as trying to hold all black people accountable for something some black person did somewhere. And even if said victims are huge supporters of what Netanyahu is doing in Gaza, violence is not the answer, and it's not like they have some power over Israel in any way.

[atreides1]

3. One has to wonder

Would this DOJ have done the same if the roles were reversed?

While I'm glad that this was done, I seriously doubt that if it was the other way around, the current DOJ would have brought identical charges!

[Jacson6]

4. If they beat up a person for being Muslim they will be charged with a crime also.

[JohnSJ]

2. He has been doing this crap since April, 2024. What took so long to arrest this creep?

[rollin74]

5. I'm glad that this self-proclaimed "Jew hater"

is being charged with hate crimes for his violent assaults