A former US State Department official was arrested after videos of his multiple Islamophobic tirades went viral.
Stuart Seldowitz, 64, was arrested on charges of aggravated harassment, hate crime stalking, stalking causing fear and stalking at a place of employment on Wednesday.
"A 24-year-old male victim stated to police that an individual approached him at his workplace multiple times and made anti-Islamic statements multiple times on different dates causing the victim to feel afraid and annoyed," New York Police said in a statement.
Footage shows Seldowitz, who lists himself as the director of the National Security Council under former US President Barack Obama on his LinkedIn profile, berating an Egyptian halal street vendor.
He can be heard calling the vendor “a terrorist” and calling him ignorant for his knowledge of English.
At one point Seldowitz asks: “Did you rape your daughter like Muhammad did?” He also says: “What do you think of that – people who use the Quran as a toilet?”
After a brief conversation about children being killed (presumably in the Israel-Hamas conflict), Mr Seldowitz says: “If we killed 4,000 Palestinian kids, you know what? It wasn’t enough.”
this man is continuing to berate and harass the halal cart vendor. He ends the video with “if we killed 4,000 palestinian kids? It wasn’t enough”. pic.twitter.com/yhu4HSvIEZ
— Layla 🪬 (@itslaylas) November 21, 2023
Several clips were posted, one appearing to take place at night and two others during the day.
Each time, the vendor asks him to leave but he refuses, one with the comment: “It’s a free country — it’s not like Egypt.”
Seldowitz has since apologised, telling The New York Times that the vendor had reportedly expressed support for Hamas.
The former official said: “At that point, I got rather upset and I’ve said things to him, that in retrospect, I probably regret, though — that I do regret.
“Instead of focusing in on him and what he said, I expanded into insulting his religion and so on.”
But he went on to deny being Islamophobic, adding: “I’ve worked with Muslims. I have many people who are Muslims and Arabs and so on, who know me very well and who know that I’m not prejudiced against them.”
The vendor, named as 24-year-old Mohamed Hussein, told The Independent he adamantly denied making pro-Hamas statements.
“I was terrified, I just kept quiet,” he said.
Asked about the incident, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said: "The United States unequivocally opposes racist or discriminatory language of any form."
Manhattan-based lobbying firm Gotham Government Relations, which Seldowitz has been associated with in the past, said it has severed ties with him.
"The video of his actions is vile, racist, and beneath the dignity of the standards we practice at our firm," a statement said.
Founder and president David Schwartz said: “I’ll represent the food vendor pro bono if he wants to bring a lawsuit against Stuart Seldowitz. I’m absolutely outraged by this video.”
