• A former Obama advisor who harassed a Halal food worker was released on condition of a 26-week training programme
• A man who claimed killing 4000 Palestinian kids is not enough to be allowed to roam freely without watch
A former National Security Council official, former Obama advisor, and former diplomat with the US government who worked for five different US administrations, Stuart Seldowitz, has been given a deal in which he can have his hate charges dropped on condition of going to a 26-week anti-bias program. Stuart Seldowitz was arrested on November 22nd after harassing a Manhattan Muslim Cart worker.
Stuart Seldowitz, 65 years old, approached the Muslim vendor on November 7th. He did not buy anything, but recordings that went viral on social media show that he harassed the Muslim vendor by insulting his religion, ethnicity, and family. Stuart was not arrested until the 22nd of November, weeks after the harassment was over after a social media uproar. From the recording, we can see he insulted Prophet Muhammad and asked the man if he raped his daughter. He then went on to describe how Egyptian secret police will torture both him and his father in Egypt after he is deported. He later talked about Palestine and said, ‘If we killed 4000 Palestinian kids, you know what, it wouldn’t be enough’.
After Stuart was arrested, he was accused of harassment and stalking. There was no criminal sentence or detention based on his miserable, awful comment on the killings of Palestinian kids. Rather, there was only an arrest based on harassment and stalking. This highlights the insignificance of Palestinian rights and Islamophobia in US laws and policing systems. If Stuart were to have made anti-Semitic comments rather than pro-genocidal Palestinian comments, it could likely have spelled a harsher and quicker response by the New York authorities. It’s also likely that he would not be given a chance to be released by doing a 26-week anti-bias training course. CAIR (The Council on American-Islamic Relations) released a statement saying, “The sweetheart deal he received from the Manhattan DA’s office is a shameful affront of our justice system and wholly unfitting of his actions.” This is true, as antisemitism not only receives far harsher punishments but also far more government recognition than other hate crimes in the US.
Stuart had many roles in government, and one of them was to work in the State Department Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs. Yet it’s this same man who harbours such derogatory genocidal sentiments who had this specific role. This is evidence that those at the forefront of US foreign policy may not have the best in mind for the people they have to work with, but rather a heavy bias depending on the stereotypes that they may harbour.
