NYPD has arrested a former Obama State Department official for using mean words toward a Muslim food cart worker. Stuart Seldowitz was charged with "hate crime/stalking," second-degree aggravated harassment, and additional stalking charges, according to NYPD statements. Seldowitz is described as the "former Director of the National Security Council under President Obama and former diplomat for the U.S. State Department serving during five presidencies" by the company that just fired him.

This is the event that landed Seldowitz in jail.

This man wearing a green jacket was berating and harassing a halal cart vendor off 83rd and 2nd Ave in NYC. Does anyone know who this man is? Planning to report to the authorities. pic.twitter.com/GwklyXpsPH

— Layla 🪬 (@itslaylas) November 21, 2023

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

his harassment of the Halal Cart vendor at 83rd and 2nd ave has been ongoing for two weeks.
NYPD has been called multiple times, local precinct stated that “there is nothing they can do because it is free speech”. pic.twitter.com/6LYL40TTFK

— Layla 🪬 (@itslaylas) November 21, 2023

Let's be clear. Seldowiz was a little over the top.

Stuart Seldowitz, the deputy director of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs from 1999 to 2003 and who most recently served as a national security adviser under President Obama, could be seen in the footage calling Hussein a “terrorist,” denigrating the Prophet Muhammad as a “rapist,” and telling Hussein that he and his family would be tortured by the security services “when they deport you back to Egypt.”

,,,

In one of the clips, Hussein asks Seldowitz to leave him alone, to which Seldowitz replies, “Why should I go? It’s a free country, it’s not Egypt here.”

At that point, Tamymy, holding a hard hat and wearing a high-viz reflective vest, can be seen walking up to Seldowitz and prevailing upon him to leave Hussein alone.

“Come on,” Tamymy says to him. “What you’re doing is not right.”

“He likes killing Jews!” Seldowitz responds.

“No, that’s not right, he didn’t say that,” Tamymy shoots back as Seldowitz continues to argue his case.

“That’s what he said!” Seldowitz goes on.

“He didn’t say that, he didn’t say that,” Tamymy counters. “You’re harassing him.”

“Maybe I am,” says Seldowitz. “But you know what, he deserves to be [unintelligible].”

This kind of confrontation is not new to Seldowitz. According to Russophilic Gray Zone, he's had a similar exchange of views with Russian diplomats.

The Grayzone has obtained footage of ex-State Dept official Stuart Seldowitz harassing Russian diplomats by the UN

Now infamous for his viral Islamophobic rant, Seldowitz allegedly called Russian UN officials "whores" and even harassed a diplomat's doghttps://t.co/K976DS3yag pic.twitter.com/tcPsibv5Ih

— The Grayzone (@TheGrayzoneNews) November 22, 2023

Here’s ex-State Dept official Stuart Seldowitz earlier this year harassing a Russian diplomat in NYC and asking, “how does it feel to be a criminal?”

Seldowitz was just arrested for similarly harassing a halal food vendor nearby https://t.co/EECuuyDrH1 pic.twitter.com/fD5wizEPKS

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) November 23, 2023

Let's cut to the chase. Seldowitz was an ass. He'd gouged at this food cart worker for a couple of weeks and had been told time and again to stop. That said, the First Amendment gives us the right to be an ass. The cart was on public property; there is no evidence that Seldowitz interfered with him selling to customers, and he didn't touch the man or threaten him with physical harm...beyond having the Egyptian Mukhabarat torture him once he was deported. If the man felt threatened by the numerous incidents, he could've contacted the police and taken action to obtain a restraining order.

Seldowitz's real crime seems to be that he insulted Islam, and it's understandable that a pre-dhimmi society might be afraid of doing so. However, I can tell you from experience that Catholics don't get this sort of legal protection. He also verbally harassed a member of a protected racial/ethnic/religious group.

Even though I think a fairly influential man repeatedly hazing what seems to be an illegal immigrant is a horrible case of punching down — a habit he probably picked up during his career — that is a function of Seldowitz's character. While detestable (I said he worked in the Obama administration, right?), it should not result in arrest.

What is interesting is that Jewish students suffer much worse verbal abuse than that on a continuous basis in New York's colleges and universities, and none of the aggressors are under arrest. Any "free Palestine" demonstration is going to include specific threats of violence towards Jews, and if recognized, they will be targeted for assault. But in Kathy Hochul's New York, none of that matters.

I hope he has enough money and anger to mount a defense in this case because even though IANAL and I don't play one on the internet, hate crimes laws, as related to speech, should be unconstitutional, and the way they have bootstrapped Seldowitz's actions into a "stalking" charge is just shameful.

I really hate coming to the defense of this guy, but his arrest is a little short of outright fascism on the part of the NYPD, and if being an ass is now illegal, New York had better open larger jails.