Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg offers sweetheart plea deal to suspect in brutal anti-Semitic attack
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office is offering a sweetheart plea deal to a suspect charged in the brutal anti-Semitic beating of a Jewish man in Midtown, prosecutors confirmed.
Waseem Awawdeh — who defiantly said “I would do it again” after his arrest in the cowardly assault on Joseph Borgen near a pro-Israel rally — has received a six-month plea deal offer from the controversial prosecutor.
That would be a slap on the wrist compared to the up to seven years he would face if convicted of the charges, including attempted assault as a hate crime, at trial.
Awawdeh, 24, was part of a gang of brutes busted in the May 20, 2021 attack on Borgen, who was wearing a yarmulke as he walked to a pro-Israel rally near Broadway and West 49th Street.
Borgen, an Upper East Side accountant, said his attackers called him a “dirty Jew” and yelled “F–k Israel, Hamas is going to kill all of you” as they pummeled him.
“I felt a liquid being poured on my face, and at first I thought I was getting urinated on,” Borgen told The Post at the time.
“But it turned out I was getting Maced and pepper-sprayed,” he said. “My face was on fire. That pain was worse than the concussion and all the other stuff that followed.”
Awawdeh, of Brooklyn, and three Staten Island men, Mahmoud Musa, Faisal Elezzi and Mohammed Othman, were all hit with charges over the attack, including assault as a hate crime and gang assault, following their arrests.
At his arraignment, prosecutors said Awawdeh told jailers he had no regrets.
“If I could do it again, I would do it again,” he said. “I have no problem doing it again.”
He has remained free on $10,000 bail while the case is pending.
Awawdeh’s lawyer, Peter Marc Frankel, confirmed the DA’s plea deal offer, which was first reported by the New York Sun.
“The six-month plea deal has been offered at this point,” Frankel told The Post on Thursday. “No decisions have been made by [my] client on what to do. We have been in contact with the DA for over a year about this case.
“It’s complicated,” he said. “This is not the potential outcome I was looking for but this is their current position. I am going to discuss this with my client.”
A spokesperson for Bragg’s office defended the deal Thursday, claiming Awawdeh did not initiate the attack but rather was the sixth person to join and left before it was over.
The spokesperson noted that Awawdeh is charged with beating the victim with his crutch, but that he did not pepper-spray, punch or kick Borgen and that he has no prior convictions.
“Anti-Semitic hate has no place in Manhattan and the office is requiring felony hate crime pleas and incarceration for three men charged in connection to this despicable act,” Emily Tuttle said in a statement.
“Our Hate Crimes Unit made these appropriately strong recommendations following a thorough investigation that illuminated facts, evidence and varying levels of culpability among this group of individuals.”
Among the other accused attackers, Othman and Musa — who both face class C felonies — have not been offered plea deals, the rep said, while Elezzi has been offered one in his misdemeanor case. All appear to have pleaded not guilty.
The incident came amid high tensions between Jews and Palestinians, with several clashes in New York City during protests and demonstrations.
“It really is outrageous,” former state Assemblyman Dov Hikind said on Thursday. “What do you have to do? Kill a Jew to get justice? It seems like Jewish blood is cheap, especially with the Manhattan DA, a guy who clearly has greater pity for the perpetrator than the victim of the crime.”
Additional reporting by Doree Lewak
