4 and a half years after Joey Borgen was overwhelmed on the street in New York Metropolis whereas en path to a pro-Israel rally, a sixth particular person concerned in his assault has been sentenced.
Salem Seleiman, 30, was sentenced to 2 years in state jail on Thursday in New York State Supreme Courtroom. He pleaded responsible on Sept. 29 to assault within the second diploma and assault within the third diploma as a hate crime, in accordance with the Manhattan District Legal professional’s workplace.
“Salem Seleiman took half within the repugnant and bias-motivated assault of a Jewish man who was peacefully attending a rally,” stated District Legal professional Alvin Bragg in a press release. “The sufferer was focused primarily based on his faith and did nothing to warrant bodily violence.
The assault on Might 20, 2021, got here amid a string of antisemitic assaults throughout the battle between Israel and Hamas on the time. Seleiman had simply attended a pro-Palestinian rally when he got here throughout Borgen, who was carrying a kippah, in Occasions Sq..
In the course of the assault, Seleiman was certainly one of six males who kicked, pepper-sprayed and struck Borgen with a crutch, leaving him needing surgical procedure on his wrist. The group additionally shouted antisemitic slurs at Borgen throughout the assault, together with “filthy Jew,” “soiled Jew” and “f— Israel.”
Based on the district legal professional’s workplace, surveillance footage of the assault confirmed Seleiman kick Borgen within the face and allegedly urge onlookers to go away the scene. He was arrested in Florida and extradited to New York in Might, months after three of the opposite attackers had been sentenced in January 2024.
4 different assailants concerned in Borgen’s assault pleaded responsible and had been sentenced to jail, whereas a fifth was placed on probation however violated the phrases of his launch and was later sentenced to jail.
