“Woke” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg faced backlash after reportedly offering a plea deal to alleged antisemitic attacker Waseem Awawdeh of Brooklyn, despite the latter having reportedly threatened to repeat his assault.
Awawdeh, 24, was charged with assault as a hate crime, gang assault, menacing, aggravated harassment, and criminal possession of a weapon for his alleged 2021 unprovoked attack on Joseph Borgen, a 29-year-old Jewish man, in Midtown Manhattan.
The suspect was filmed punching, kicking, and beating the victim with crutches, in addition to pepper-spraying him and allegedly calling Borgen a “dirty Jew.”
The assault took place as pro-Palestinian demonstrators attacked Jews in Manhattan — allegedly harassing and beating pro-Israel counter-demonstrators; shooting fireworks at a crowd of onlookers; and spitting on diners eating in a local restaurant.
In one video, Awawdeh is seen celebrating with others after being released on bail.
Though he faced a maximum of seven years if convicted of the charges, the Soros-linked Manhattan DA reportedly offered him a six-month plea deal, despite Awawdeh having allegedly told a jailer: “If I could do it again, I would do it again,” according to a prosecutor at Awawdeh’s arraignment hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court.
In response, former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind blasted the “shameful” decision.
“New York is simply no longer safe for Jews under the supervision of @ManhattanDA,” tweeted the watchdog group StopAntisemitism.
“By offering a plea deal in a vicious assault, that’s a hate crime to boot, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg proves his allegiance, not only to criminals, but to those victimized because of their religion and ethnicity,” wrote Fox News Host and former New York State judge and District Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
NYC Council member Kalman Yeger said it was “Open Season on Jews, encouraged by @ManhattanDA.”
At the time of the assault, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) blamed congressional Democrats for contributing to antisemitism through their frequent use of “incendiary rhetoric” in attacking Israel.
Bragg was elected in November 2021 with indirect backing from left-wing billionaire activist George Soros, who provided $1 million to the Color of Change PAC, which was spent to elect Bragg.
Soros has spent millions in local prosecutorial elections, often backing left-wing radicals against incumbent or moderate Democrats.
His involvement has coincided with a massive rise in violent crimes in Democrat-run cities.
As Breitbart News noted last November, Bragg, who won a staggering 83% of the vote, ran a campaign centering around ending prosecutions for what he deems “minor” offenses, such as marijuana misdemeanors, turnstile jumping, trespassing, driving with a suspended license, prostitution, resisting arrest for non-criminal offenses, and obstructing the work of the NYPD.
Likewise, he has vowed to reduce “mass incarceration” by recommending no more than 20-year maximum prison sentences “absent exceptional circumstances.”
In 2020 and 2021, numerous arrestees, some accused of violent crimes, were released in New York City as a result of state bail reforms, with some allegedly going on to commit crimes that shocked the public, such as an antisemitic attack in Brooklyn.
In July, Bragg defended his office’s freeing without bail a 16-year-old suspect captured on video brutally assaulting an NYPD officer — putting him in a chokehold, dragging him, and repeatedly punching him in the face.
The suspect had been freed without bail for allegedly beating a stranger in a violent robbery just three days prior, due to New York’s “No Bail” law, first imposed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and supported by sitting Gov. Kathy Hochul (D).
Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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