More than 11,000 sign letter supporting NY anti-Israel activist who attacked Jews

NEW YORK — More than 11,000 people have signed a letter to a judge in support of a US anti-Israel activist who is set to be sentenced later this month for antisemitic hate crimes.

In June, Tarek Bazrouk, 20, pleaded guilty in a federal court in New York to attacking the individuals because of their Jewish or Israeli identity. The victims of the attacks, which took place surrounding anti-Israel protests in 2024 and early 2025, were all wearing Jewish or Israeli symbols or were otherwise identifiable as such.

Bazrouk, who is Palestinian, has become a cause célèbre for anti-Israel activists across the US as leading groups, such as National Students for Justice in Palestine, urged their followers to sign a letter to the judge in his case.

The letter seeking a lenient sentence for Bazrouk was filed in a sentencing submission to the judge on Tuesday that included close to 250 pages of signatures. Bazrouk will be sentenced on October 28 in the federal New York Southern District court.

“Tarek Bazrouk is a beloved member of the New York City community,” the letter said. “We duly affirm that Tarek is not a danger to the community.”

The letter sought Bazrouk’s release from incarceration on time served, meaning he would be released after the hearing, saying Bazrouk has suffered from “deep personal trauma” and has been incarcerated for six months in “inhumane conditions.”

“Tarek, like many other young men in the criminal justice system, would be immeasurably harmed and further traumatized by a lengthy sentence in federal prison,” the letter said. “We believe that restorative justice will be achieved through Tarek’s personal growth and evolution as a man and valued community member, not through a prison sentence.”

Bazrouk, in a letter to the judge, said he was “against violence.”

“I wish I could go back and redo those moments. Instead of punching and kicking others, I would result to talking and finding ways to make peace and serve justice,” he wrote.

Tarek Bazrouk, a 20-year-old Palestinian student, has been locked up for over five months for speaking out against genocide.

Sign the mitigation letter by Oct 13 to demand his freedom and stand against political repression.https://t.co/8jOC0Ejhqu pic.twitter.com/YfbUuOIEdX

— CU Apartheid Divest (CUAD) (@ColumbiaBDS) October 12, 2025

Other prominent activist groups that have backed Bazrouk include the Palestinian Youth Movement, Within Our Lifetime, Pal-Awda, the anti-Israel campus coalition Columbia University Apartheid Divest, and other student groups around New York City.

In addition to signing the letter, Bazrouk’s supporters have donated more than $6,800 dollars to his commissary and launched a campaign to post flyers in his support around New York City.

Other activists posted images on social media showing themselves selling pins to support Bazrouk. The pins had images of the terrorist leaders Yahya Sinwar and Hassan Nasrallah, Hamas spokesperson Abu Obedia, and Hamas logos. The sale also had posters for the PFLP terror group and keychains that said, “Death death to the IDF.” The posts said the sale took place in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park last week.

The campaign for Bazrouk has elided the antisemitic violence, characterizing him as a “political prisoner.”

“Federal ‘hate crime’ charges — a rare and extreme escalation clearly meant to silence his participation in protests for Palestine,” the flyers said.

Bazrouk is facing a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.

All of the assaults took place surrounding anti-Israel protests in Manhattan. Bazrouk told the judge in the case that he, as a Palestinian, carried out the attacks “to express my outrage over Israel’s widespread killing and displacement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.”

In April 2024, Bazrouk, while wearing a Hamas headband, scuffled with pro-Israel demonstrators at a protest outside the New York Stock Exchange. He was arrested during the altercation, and while he was being escorted to a police vehicle, he kicked a Jewish college student in the stomach, court filings said.

In December 2024, at a protest near Columbia University, Bazrouk snatched an Israeli flag from two Jewish brothers while calling them “Nazis.” As the brothers followed Bazrouk through a crowd to retrieve the flag, he ambushed them from the side, punching one of the brothers in the face.

In January 2025, at another protest, Bazrouk jostled a Jewish counter-protester. The Jewish individual pushed Bazrouk away, who then punched him in the nose.

All of the victims were wearing kippahs, Stars of David, or Israeli flags, or were in groups singing Jewish songs. Two of the victims were Columbia University students.

Investigators also found text messages from Bazrouk that corroborated his antisemitic motives.

A US Justice Department statement said Bazrouk self-identified as a “Jew hater.” He wrote to acquaintances, regarding Jews, “They are worthless,” “Allah get us rid of them,” derided a Jewish man as a “Fucking Jew,” and threatened to shoot Jews. He also told a friend he was “mad happy” to find out he has family who are Hamas members while he was visiting the West Bank and Jordan.

On Instagram, he posted a video of a Jewish child, told his followers to “get him,” and posted the name of the child’s Jewish school.

He also posted support for Hamas on social media. In addition, his phone had pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah propaganda, such as images of Sinwar, and he was in a chat group that received messages written by Abu Obeida.

In addition to the attacks, Bazrouk has been arrested at least 12 other times, including for drug dealing.

When investigators searched Bazrouk’s room, in an apartment he shared with his family, they found an airsoft gun that appeared to be an actual firearm, bullet casings, brass knuckles, four knives, including a switchblade, and $750,000 in cash, the source of which remains unclear. He forfeited the cash to the authorities as part of his plea agreement.

Jews are targeted in hate crimes reported to police in New York City far more than any other group. Convictions for hate crimes are relatively rare, though, because there is a high legal bar for proving a bias motive.